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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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Purchased  by  the  Hamill  Missionary  Fund. 


Division 


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.210, 


Section 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/chinaboxersshort00beal_0 


CHINA  AND 

THE  BOXERS. 


A SHORT  HISTORY  ON  THE  BOXER 
OUTBREAK,  WITH  TWO  CHAPTERS 
ON  THE  SUFFERINGS  OF  MISSION- 
ARIES AND  A CLOSING  ONE  ON 
THE  OUTLOOK.  J-  <£• 


BY 

X 

Rev.  Z.  CHAS.  BEALS, 

/ 


Editor  of  '‘'‘China  Messenger and  Pastor  of  Grace  Churchy  Wuhu  and  Han 
Shan  Hsieny  China. 


M.  E.  MUNSON,  Publisher  and  Bookseller, 

77  BIBLE  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK. 


COPYRIGHT,  1901, 

By  Z.  Charles  Beals. 


TO 


THE  MEMORY  OF  THE  MANY  MISSIONARIES  AND  NATIVE 
CHRISTIANS  WHO  HAVE  NOT  COUNTED  THEIR  LIVES 
DEAR  UNTO  THEMSELVES,  BUT  HAVE  GLADLY 
LAID  THEM  DOWN  FOR  CHRIST,  IS  THIS 
VOLUME 


REVERENTLY  DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Preface  9 

Introduction  11 

Chap.  I.  The  Boxer  Organization 13 

“ II.  Reasons  for  the  Movement 19 

“ III.  Beginning  of  the  Trouble 37 

“ IV.  Admiral  Seymour’s  Relief  Column.  ...  45 

“ V.  Siege  of  Tientsin 57 

“ VI.  Relief  of  Tientsin 65 

“ VII.  Bombardment  of  the  Taku  Forts....  71 
“ VIII.  Murder  of  the  German  Minister  and 

Japanese  Secretary 75 

“ IX.  The  Siege  of  Peking 81 

“ X.  The  Relief  of  Peking 99 

“ XI.  The  Suffering  of  Foreigners 109 

“ XII.  Flight  of  a Mission 125 

“ XIII.  Are  the  Missionaries  Responsible?.  .133 
“ XIV.  The  Future  Outlook.., 139 


PREFACE. 


After  being  forced  to  leave  his  work  in  China,  the  au- 
thor felt  compelled  to  publish  in  popular  form  a reliable 
book  on  the  “Boxers,”  their  origin,  outrages  and  the 
world-wide  commotion  they  have  caused.  As  there  had 
been  many  wild  and  groundless  reports,  he  tried  to  ascer- 
tain the  real  facts  and  give  to  his  readers  the  thrilling 
events  as  they  occurred  in  order. 

The  Boxer  movement  has  been  one  of  the  greatest 
crimes  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  has  paralyzed  not 
only  China,  but  the  world.  Nor  is  the  end  yet  in  view. 
Every  one  should  study  to  know  the  real  cause  of  the 
present  trouble,  and  so  watch  with  interest  future  de- 
velopments. 

There  is  now  n p doubt  but  that  there  was  planned  in 
Peking  by  the  heads  of  the  Chinese  Government  one  of 
the  most  fiendish  conspiracies  to  drive  out  or  exterminate 
all  foreigners  and  Western  civilization,  and  also  stamp  out 
every  trace  of  Christianity  from  among  the  natives. 

Their  plans  were  kept  secret  for  a long  time,  but  docu- 
ments have  been  secured  which  implicate  the  highest  of- 
ficials. Instances  were  found  where  Governors  and  Vice- 
roys offered  and  even  paid  for  the  heads  of  foreigners 
from  $30  to  $100  per  head.  The  Governor  of  Shan-si, 
the  human  monster,  beguiled  into  his  Yamen  (official 
residence),  on  the  pretext  of  protection,  fifty-one  men, 
women  and  children,  and  then  horribly  butchered  them  in 


8 


PREFACE. 


the  most  cruel  and  revolting  way,  and  then  claimed  from 
Peking  headquarters  $100  per  head  for  the  carrying  out 
of  his  part  of  the  programme. 

It  is,  therefore,  of  the  utmost  importance  nationally, 
that  these  fiends  should  be  known  and  dealt  with,  no  mat- 
ter how  high  the  official  position ; for,  if  allowed  freedom, 
they  would  soon  be  placed  in  authority  again.  On  the 
other  hand,  those  who  have  shown  such  great  kindness, 
such  as  the  two  Viceroys  of  the  Yang-tsi  Valley,  Ch'ang- 
Chih-Tung  and  Liu-Kuan-Ye,  and  the  Governor  of  Shen- 
si, with  others,  should  be  promoted  and  trusted  in  the 
future  by  the  nations. 

We  are  indebted  to  some  of  the  Shanghai  and  Japan 
papers  for  extracts  which  we  have  taken  from  them,  and 
also  to  different  writers,  but  especially  to  Mr.  Charles 
Gammon,  agent  for  the  American  Bible  Society,  Tientsin, 
who  has  written  a small  book,  entitled  “The  Boxer 
Movement,’’  and  from  which  we  have  taken  many  valu- 
able thoughts  and  selections,  the  ist  and  3d  chapters  be- 
ing almost  entirely  his ; also  to  Rev.  Gilbert  Reid, 
D.  D.,  for  his  account  of  the  siege,  taken  from  the 
“Shanghai  Mercury.” 

The  author  has  been  nine  years  in  China  as  a mission- 
ary, and  understands  the  views  which  the  Chinese  hold 
regarding  the  foreigner,  and  with  this  experience  he  is 
able  to  present  facts  which  he  could  not  do  if  he  had  only 
been  a visitor  or  globe-trotter.  Much  has  been  omitted 
because  of  limited  space,  but  enough  will  be  found  in  this 
volume  to  give  the  reader  a clear  idea  of  events  as  they 
have  transpired  within  the  past  year,  and  also  a closing 
chapter  on  the  present  position  and  the  future  outlook. 

90  Covert  Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Z.  Chas.  Beals. 

Jan.  ist,  1901. 


INTRODUCTION: 


The  greatest  living  issue  before  the  church  and  the 
nations  to-day  is  the  Chinese  question.  At  last  China — 
conservative,  secluded,  selfish,  heathen  China — has  over- 
stepped herself,  and  forced  upon  herself  either  the  per- 
manent dictation  of  the  more  civilized  nations  or  dis- 
memberment. Which  horn  of  the  dilemma  she  will  choose 
it  is  impossible  to  forecast  at  present.  Whether  the  set- 
tlement with  the  allied  powers  is  near  at  hand,  or,  if  so, 
whether  it  will  be  satisfactory,  sufficient  and  wise,  is 
problematical. 

At  all  events,  the  more  light  we  can  have  thrown  upon 
this  vital  subject  by  the  platform,  the  pulpit  and  the  press, 
the  more  profitable  will  it  be  to  the  race  and  the  cause  of 
Christ.  We,  thefefore,  welcome  this  timely  volume  by 
Mr.  Beals,  and  bespeak  for  it  a warm  reception,  a wide 
circulation,  a careful  perusal  and  a prayerful,  hearty 
“God-speed”  on  the  part  of  its  grateful  readers.  Infor- 
mation is  the  foundation  for  a sound  conviction,  sound 
conviction  for  a wholesome  and  safe  agitation,  and  agi- 
tation for  thorough  and  permanent  purification.  When 
the  facts  are  known,  the  missionary  will  not  be  blamed 
for  the  uprising  in  China.  The  movement  has  been  anti- 
foreign,  and  not  primarily  anti-Christian.  It  became 
anti-Christian  only  as  the  Christian  missionary  was,  in- 
cidentally, a foreigner,  and  as  the  native  Christian  was 


10 


INTRODUCTION. 


connected  with  him.  But  even  if  the  missionary  were 
wholly  at  fault,  that  would  not  change  the  Great  Com- 
mission nor  alter  the  responsibility  of  the  church  to  evan- 
gelize China.  While  the  marching  orders  of  the  Great 
Commander  are,  “Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature,”  every  Christian  is  under 
infinite  obligations,  either  in  person  or  in  spirit,  to  “go.” 
No  shrinking  from  danger,  ik>  fear  of  disruption,  no 
dread  of  being  misunderstood  and  misrepresented  must 
deter  him  for  a moment/  The  soldier  may  not  disobey, 
nor  even  question,  the  Captain.  The  subaltern  may  not 
reason  against  the  superior.  Obedience  is  his ; the  re- 
sults are  God’s. 

In  due  time  the  clouds  hanging  over  China  will  be  dis- 
pelled, the  ancient  nation  will  have  been  thoroughly 
scourged,  she  will  enter  upon  a new  lease  of  life,  chast- 
ened and  humbled;  her  doors  will  be  thrown  wide  open 
to  civilization,  commerce  and  Christianity,  and  her  four 
hundred  millions  of  people  will  stand  on  the  same  plane 
as  those  of  the  other  nations,  and  from  this  great  seething 
mass  will  come  a great  multitude,  a mighty  army,  to  swell 
the  ranks  of  the  elect  number  which  shall  make  up  the 
Bride  of  the  Son  of  God.  W.  J.  Hosier, 

Pastor  Grace  Gospel  Church, 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


THE  BOXER  ORGANIZATION. 


Chapter  I. 

The  I-Ho-Ch’uan  (Righteous  Harmony  Fists  or  Vol- 
unteer Bands),  commonly  called  the  “Boxers,”  is  a secret 
society  who  made  its  present  appearance  over  a year  ago 
in  Northern  Shantung  province.  It  rapidly  attracted 
multitudes  of  men,  both  young  and  old,  who  formed 
themselves  into  small  bands  of  gymnasts.  Each  band 
was  conducted  by  a “demonized”  leader,  who,  by  the  selec- 
tion of  an  epileptic  patient  or  by  the  aid  of  hypnotism, 
caused  a “medium”  to  display  wild  and  unnatural  symp- 
toms or  to  utter  strange  and  peculiar  speech,  this  serving 
as  a basis  for  the  claim  of  this  society  to  spiritual  power. 
Every  follower  was  assured  of  immunity  from  death  or 
physical  injury — their  bodies  being  spiritually  protected 
from  sword  cuts  and  bullets. 

In  order  to  present  this  matter  intelligently,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  give  a brief  summary  of  the  uprising  from 
its  beginning.  While  confined  principally  to  Shantung 
and  Chihli  Provinces,  it  affected  seriously  all  Christian 
work  in  the  North,  and  rapidly  assumed  vast  proportions 
and  spread  like  a forest  fire  from  village  to<  village. 

Most  of  the  statements  given  below  are  those  which 
have  been  communicated  officially,  to  the  Foreign  Min- 
isters by  the  missionaries,  and  they  do  not  include  the  re- 
ports of  innumerable  outrages  of  which  we  have  not  full 
information. 


12 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


By  the  first  of  July  of  last  year  the  Boxers  had  added 
.vast  numbers  to  their  ranks,  and  all  were  armed  with 
broad-swords,  and  in  some  cases  with  firearms.  Gym- 
nastic exercises  and  drills  were  going  on  in  hundreds 
of  villages,  and  the  Boxers  soon  announced  their  inten- 
tion of  rising  against  the  Roman  Catholics.  They  rep- 
resented to  the  multitudes  that  the  sympathies  of  the 
Government  were  with  them,  and  adopted  as  a motto, 
“Exalt  the  Dynasty  and  extirpate  the  foreigners.”  One 
placard,  which  was  widely  circulated  by  them,  read  as 
follows : 

“THE  UNIVERSAL  BOXER  SOCIETY. 

“You  are  personally  invited  to  meet  on  the  seventh  day 
of  the  ninth  moon, 

“Elevate  the  Manchus, 

“Kill  the  foreigners, 

“Unless  this  summons  is  obeyed  you  will  lose  your 
heads.” 

From  the  time  this  placard  was  issued  the  movement 
gradually  grew  into  opposition  to  everything  foreign,  and 
the  natives  in  both  Catholic  and  Protestant  churches  were 
the  sufferers.  Hundreds  of  native  families  were  rendered 
homeless,  many  were  killed,  and  the  Boxers,  unchecked, 
looted  and  burned  and  robbed  and  killed  until  they  were 
apparently  beyond  control.  In  December,  in  one  district 
alone,  the  homes  of  two  hundred  families  have  been 
looted  and  burned,  all  available  property  confiscated  and 
the  sufferers  forced  to  flee  without  food  or  sufficient 
clothing,  in  the  midst  of  an  unusually  cold  winter.  Some 
were  captured  and  held  for  ransom,  others  were  taken 
to  temples  and  forced  to  kneel  before  heathen  idols,  but 
many  of  them  were  taken  in  by  missionaries  and  given 
such  aid  and  protection  as  was  possible.  In  the  mean- 


THE  BOXER  ORGANIZATION. 


13 


time  the  officials  were  wholly  unmindful  of  the  terrors 
surrounding  them.  Indeed,  it  is  now  known  that  the 
former  Governor  of  Shantung  (Yu  Hsien)  had  encour- 
aged and  aided  the  Boxers  in  their  organization,  and 
this  with  the  approval  of  the  Central  Government.  What 
seemed  at  first  anti-Catholic,  then  anti-Christian,  now 
proves  to  go  deeper — it  is  anti-foreign.  The  Peking 
Government  spoke  of  the  Boxers  as  “patriots,”  formed 
as  a sort  of  militia  to  prevent  the  encroachments  of  the 
Germans  in  Shantung  and  to  support  the  Government. 
Thus  the  pillaging  and  rioting  went  on  unchecked,  not- 
withstanding repeated  warnings  and  petitions  both  from 
the  native  sufferers  and  the  missionaries.  The  Ministers 
promptly  reported  to  the  Tsung-Li-Yamen  (Foreign  Bu- 
reau) all  information  received,  but,  in  spite  of  polite  let- 
ters from  the  Tsung-Li-Yamen,  nothing  was  really  done 
to  put  down  the  Boxers.  On  December  31st  Mr.  Brooks, 
of  the  English  Church  Mission,  was  captured  by  the  Box- 
ers, mutilated  and  beheaded,  and  then  the  extreme  gravity 
of  the  situation  was  revealed. 

If  we  go  back  two  years  we  find  the  Germans  required 
the  dismissal  of  Li  Ping-Heng,  then  Governor  of  Shan- 
tung, under  whose  rule  two  priests  were  murdered,  and 
the  edict  in  the  Peking  Gazette  dismissing  him  contained 
the  words  “yung-pu-t’i-yung”  (not  to  be  mentioned  for 
employment  again).  This  same  man  also  was  put  in  a 
new  and  highly  influential  position,  created  for  his  sole 
use,  where  his  power  is  almost  unlimited.  Recently  this 
Li  Ping-Heng,  once  in  disgrace,  but  now  in  office  and 
favor,  was  recommended  to  the  throne  as  one  loyal  and 
patriotic  and  to  be  implicitly  trusted.  Yu  Hsien,  who 
succeeded  him  as  Governor  of  Shantung,  also  left  a track 
of  ruin  behind  him  and  gave  to  the  Boxers  a new  lease  of 


14 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


life.  Such  is  Chinese  duplicity — such  is  China’s  hopeless- 
ness. 

The  Manchu  princes  were  surrounded  at  this  time  by 
Boxers,  and  half  their  retainers  belonged  to  the  associa- 
tion, and  half  of  the  palace  servants  were  members  of 
the  same  Boxer  brotherhood.  The  Empress  Dowager 


‘'BOXERS'-’  READING  PLACARDS. 

and  the  Emperor  were  attended  by  persons  who  did  not 
read  the  newspapers,  but  repeated  only  court  gossip  if 
they  were  asked  for  information.  Half  the  court  attend- 
ants, therefore,  believed  that  a new  era  had  dawned, 
which  was  to  be  anti-foreign. 

At  this  time  many  Boxer  placards  were  posted  up, 
calling  upon  the  people  to  rise  up  and  exterminate  the 


THE  BOXER  ORGANIZATION. 


15 


foreigners.  The  following  one,  a fair  sample  of  many, 
was  posted  on  the  walls  of  Peking: 

“Our  Emperor  is  about  to  become  powerful. 

"The  leader  of  the  ‘Boxers’  is  a royal  person. 

“Within  three  months  all  foreigners  will  be  killed  and 
driven  away  from  China. 

“During  forty  years  the  Empire  has  become  full  of 
foreigners. 

“They  have  divided  the  land. 

“The  Kwo-wen-pao  (Chinese  newspaper)  always 
talks  nonsense  about  the  ‘Boxers,’  since  it  is  under  the 
protection  of  Japan. 

“We  remind  the  Editors  that  hereafter  they  must  not 
talk  nonsense;  if  they  continue  to  do  so  their  building 
will  be  burnt. 

“The  Brethren  need  not  fear. 

“There  are  100,000  ( ? E.  G.  A.)  in  the  North. 

“When  the  foreigners  are  driven  away. 

“We  will  return  to  our  hills!” 

One  of  the  many  charges  against  officials  in  connection 
with  the  I-Ho-ch’uan  rebellion  is  given  below  -against 
H.  E.  Yii  Hsien,  late  Governor  of  Shantung: 

“That  knowing  the  existence  of  the  I-Ho-Ch’uan  in  his 
province,  on  a large  and  threatening  scale,  a society 
wholly  contrary  to  the  Imperial  laws,  and  in  previous 
reigns  severely  punished,  he  took  no  steps  to  antagonize 
it.  That  after  a fight  had  taken  place  in  October,  between 
the  provincial  troops  and  the  Boxers,  the  said  Governor 
was  very  angry  that  about  a hundred  of  the  latter  had 
been  killed,  although  told  by  military  officials  that  the  en- 
counter was  unavoidable.  That  he  encouraged  the  Box- 
ers by  releasing  the  prisoners  taken  in  that  action,  re- 
quiring no  guaranty  of  good  behavior,  to  the  immediate 


i6 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


encouragement  of  the  leaders,  who  had  been  ready  to 
give  up  the  cause  after  this  fight.  That  he  secretly  pro- 
moted and  fomented  the  rebellion  by  refusing  to  allow 
the  troops  to  fight,  repeatedly  sending  them  into  the 
field  with  these  explicit  orders.  That  his  well  known  at- 
titude was  immediately  influential  in  strengthening  the 
rebellion,  and  was  the  direct  cause  of  the  murder  of  the 
late  Mr.  Brooks,  as  much  as  if  the  late  Governor  had 
dispatched  him  with  his  own  hand.  That  in  a secret 
memorial  to  the  throne  he  advocated  the  employment  of 
the  I-Ho-Ch’uan  as  an  agency  for  driving  foreigners  out 
of  the  province,  thus  giving  an  official  sanction  to  the 
movement.” 

This  Governor  was  afterwards  transferred  to  Shan-si, 
and  massacred  over  250  foreigners  and  many  thousands 
of  native  Christians. 

What  we  have  stated  will  show  that  the  Boxers’  move- 
ment was,  if  not  started  by  officials,  soon  taken  up  by 
them  and  received  their  protection.  You  have  also  now, 
on  the  above  charge,  insight  into  the  state  of  affairs  of 
Shantung  province.  We  need  hardly  say  that  under  these 
circumstances  all  religious  work  was  at  a standstill.  The 
report  that  thousands  of  the  Imperial  troops  had  united 
with  the  Boxers  at  this  time  (particularly  those  under 
Prince  Tuan)  added  a new  and  serious  phase  to  the  matter. 

In  all  sections  it  was  anti-foreign,  affecting  mission- 
aries, native  Christians  and  foreigners  generally.  The 
Edicts  of  the  Empress  Dowager  to  the  people  of  Shan- 
tung, calling  upon  them  to  form  militia  for  local  and 
national  defense,  encouraged  the  lawless  people  to  join 
the  Boxers.  This  will  be  sufficient  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
formation  of  the  Boxer  movement,  and  will  lead  us  up 
to  our  next  chapter. 


REASONS  FOR  THE  MOVEMENT  AND  OUT- 
BREAK. 


Chapter  II. 

Every  great  movement  has  usually  a central  cause. 
There  may  be  many  side  issues,  but  they  are  not,  as  a 
rule,  of  sufficient  force  to  cause  a rising  in  themselves, 
however  much  they  may  tend  to  swell  the  number  of  mal- 
contents. The  Boxer  movement  has  unquestionably  had 
as  its  chief  reason  the  hatred  and  contempt  of  the  for- 
eigner. As  such  it  received  the  smiles  of  the  dominant 
party  in  Peking;  on  such  it  based  its  hopes  of  success. 
I think  we  may  be  safe  in  giving  besides  the  first  or  great 
central  cause  five  others  which  helped  to  bring  to  an  is- 
sue the  present  state  of  things  in  China.  We  will  give 
them  in  order,  as  follows : 

First,  or  great  central  cause,  contempt  and  hatred  of 
foreigners.  The  reason  for  this  hatred  was  brought 
about,  first,  by  abuse  from  foreigners  themselves.  Sec- 
ond, political  “land  grabbing.”  Third,  oppression  and  law- 
suits by  the  natives  who  entered  the  church  (especially 
Roman  Catholic)  for  that  purpose.  Fourth,  Boxer  super- 
stition. Fifth,  inability  of  our  Consuls  and  Ministers  to 
deal  with  Chinese  officials  as  they  should  have  been  dealt 
with. 

All  who  have  lived  in  China  know  how  the  foreigner 
and  his  ways  have  been  despised.  The  poorest  beggar  on 


i8 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


the  street  would  not  exchange  places  with  the  best  of 
them.  All  droughts,  famine  and  pestilence  of  every  kind 
is  attributed  to  him.  A translation  of  a Boxer  placard 
which  we  give  below  will  give  some  idea  of  what  we 
mean : 

“Greater  calamities  still  have  overtaken  the  nation. 
Foreign  devils  come  with  their  teaching  and  converts  to 
Christianity,  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant,  have  be- 
come numerous.  Telegraphs  and  railways  have  been  es- 
tablished, foreign  rifles  and  guns  have  been  manufactured, 
and  machine  shops  have  been  a delight  to  their  evil  na- 
ture. Locomotives,  balloons,  electric  lamps,  the  foreign 
devils  think  excellent.  The  Volunteer  Associated  Fists 
will  have  a row  with  the  devils.  They  will  burn  down 
the  foreign  buildings  and  restore  the  temples.  They  will 
extirpate  the  evil  demons  and  establish  right  teaching — 
the  honor  of  the  spirits  and  the  sages — they  will  cause  to 
flourish  their  sacred  teaching.  Within  three  years  all  will 
be  accomplished.  The  bad  will  not  escape  the  net  and  the 
goodness  of  the  gods  will  be  seen.  The  secrets  of  heaven 
are  not  to  be  lightly  disclosed,  but  the  days  of  peace  to 
come  are  not  unknown.” 

Millions  of  people  therefore  believed  that  the  time 
had  come  to  expel  the  foreigners  from  China.  The  con- 
tinuous drought  and  the  imminence  of  famine  is  repre- 
sented by  wilful  agitators  to  be  through  the  anger  of  the 
gods  against  foreign  heresies  and  ways. 

In  many  districts  reports  were  spread  as  to  emissaries 
of  the  foreigners  going  everywhere  poisoning  the  water, 
and  the  poor  deluded  people,  well  nigh  frantic  with  ter- 
ror, cleaned  out  their  wells,  guarding  them  day  and  night, 
planting  red  flags  on  their  houses  to  keep  away  the  evil 
influences,  and,  lastly,  joining  the  Boxers,  who  taught 


REASONS  FOR  THE  MOVEMENT. 


19 


that  by  the  aid  of  their  charms  victory  against  the  for- 
eigners was  certain,  when  all  their  troubles  would  end. 

The  foreigners  in  building  their  railways  disturb  their 
dead,  so  they  claim,  and  this  in  itself  is  enough  at  any 
time  to  create  a riot  in  China.  Foreigners  think  nothing 
of  removing  their  dead,  but  to  the  superstitious  Chinaman 
it  means  much.  This  great  hatred  of  all  foreigners  and 
foreign  innovations,  with  contempt  for  the  Yang-Keo-tsi 
(foreign  dog),  is  the  first  great  cause  of  the  trouble. 

WHY  THIS  HATRED? 

First,  abuse  from- foreigners  themselves.  This  point 
is  best  told  by  a Chinese  gentleman,  Mr.  Wong-Kai- 
Kah,  and  what  lie  says  is  not  exaggerated,  but  put  in  a 
mild  form.  This  kind  of  abuse  is  seen  in  any  place 
where  the  foreigner  lives.  The  Chinese  are  counted  as 
dogs,  made  to  be  kicked,  and  kicks  they  get.  There  are 
exceptions,  thank  God,  but  even  those  are  few  and  far 
between.  Mr.  Wong,  in  a letter  to  the  “North  China 
News,”  says : 

“I  read  in  your  to-day’s  issue  a short  notice  of  an  al- 
leged assault  by  four  foreigners  on  the  Bubbling  Well 
Road  on  a messenger  in  uniform  of  the  Chinese  tele- 
graphs on  the  night  before  last.  I have  heard  of  late 
several  instances  of  foreigners  committing  unprovoked 
assaults  on  the  natives,  and  I have  seen  with  my  own 
eyes  during  the  past  two  days  two  instances,  which  I will 
now  relate.  A shabbily  dressed,  emaciated  and  sickly-look- 
ing  Chinese  was  walking  along  the  edge  of  the  sidewalk- 
on  Nanking  Road  when  a foreigner  walked  up  from  be- 
hind, pushed  him  off  the  sidewalk  and  kicked  him.  There 
was  plenty  of  room  for  the  foreigner  to  walk  past ; as  I 
have  said,  the  Chinaman  was  on  the  edge  of  the  sidewalk. 


20 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


The  other  case  occurred  in  Hongkew.  A white-haired 
hawker,  with  a basket  of  mud  dolls,  was  crossing  the 
street  when  he  met  a foreigner  coming  from  the  opposite 
direction,  who  shoved  him  aside  and  with  his  stick  struck 
the  mud  dolls,  a few  of  which  were  smashed,  not  costing 
much  perhaps,  but  they  are  the  means  of  his  livelihood. 

“In  both  cases  the  foreigners  were  decently  dressed 
and  endowed  with  all  the  physical  qualifications  that  na- 
ture has  to  give,  and  in  both  cases  the  victims  walked 
away  without  a word,  but  the  sullen  looks  on  their  faces 
betrayed  powerless  rage  and  bitter  resentment  at  the  un- 
just treatment  they  had  received. 

“Some  foreigners  in  these  settlements  may,  in  the  pride 
of  their  strength,  consider  the  knocking  about  of  natives 
simply  a lark,  and  of  no  consequence.  Yes,  they  may  be 
safe  enough  when  troubles  come,  but  think  of  the  mis- 
sionaries with  their  families  in  the  isolated  places,  and 
think  also  of  thousands  of  innocent  Chinese  who  will  be 
involved  in  the  general  ruin.  It  would  be  too  much  on 
my  part  to  ask  such  foreigners  to  come  down  from  their 
lofty  attitude,  to  be  friendly  to  Chinese ; all  I have  to  re- 
quest of  them  is  to  behave  in  a gentlemanly  manner, 
which  is  taught  them  in  their  own  families  and  in  their 
schools. 

“I  would  thank  you,  Mr.  Editor,  for  publishing  this 
letter.  Should  it  ever  meet  the  eyes  of  the  two  for- 
eigners whose  exploits  I have  described,  may  they  take 
no  offense,  but  may  they  be  more  temperate  in  their  ac- 
tions in  future,  and  may  they  utilize  their  courage  and 
prowess  to  better  purpose  for  their  own  sake,  for  the  sake 
of  the  interests  of  the  commonwealth,  and  for  the  sake 
of  the  good  reputation  of  foreigners  in  general. 

I am,  etc.,  Wong  Kai-kah. 


I.  MR.  CONGER,  U.  S.  MINISTER  TO  PEKING,  WHO  WENT 
THROUGH  THE  SIEGE  2.  PRINCE  TUAN,  THE  "BOXER” 
CHIEF.  3.  MR.  WU,  CHINESE  MINISTER  TO  WASH- 
INGTON. 4.  BURNING  OF  LEGATIONS  AT  PEKIN  DUR- 
ING THE  SIEGE.  5.  BURNING  OF  TIENTSIN  BY  THE 
BOXERS. 


REASONS  FOR  THE  MOVEMENT. 


23 


Second,  political  “land  grabbing.”  There  are  matters 
to  be  considered  which  have  had  a great  influence  in 
bringing  on  this  hatred  and  which  has  exasperated  the 
Chinese  beyond  measure. 

There  was  the  war  with  France  of  a few  years  ago  and 
the  appropriation  of  a no  small  slice  of  Chinese  territory, 
including  Tong-King  and  Annam.  There  was  the  Japan- 
ese war,  and  China  lost  Formosa,  which  was  followed  in 
the  appropriation  bv  Russia  of  just  so  much  of  Man- 
churia as  she  might  be  disposed  and  able  to  occupy  from 
time  to  time.  There  was  the  seizure  of  Kiao-chow  by 
the  Germans,  followed  by  the  friendly  (?)  ceding  of 
Wei-hai-wei  and  Kow-loong  to  the  British ; the  opening 
up  of  mines  and  railroads,  which  was  thought  by  the 
Chinese  (stupidly,  of  course,  but  nevertheless  a very  im- 
portant fact)  to  disturb  the  repose  of  the  dead  and  bring 
calamity  upon  the  living.  Some  of  these  innovations  of 
civilization  were  introduced  in  a manner  not  calculated  to 
quiet  the  prejudices  of  the  Chinese  or  disabuse  them  of 
the  thought  that  their  nation  was  certainly  to  be  cut  up 
into  morsels  for  the  bene/it  of  the  all-absorbing  for- 
eigner. 

If  we  could  but  for  a moment  see  ourselves  as  the 
Chinese  see  us,  we  should  recognize  at  once  that  our  un- 
blushing despoilment  and  proposed  despoilment,  thinly 
veiled  under  the  phrase  “spheres  of  influence,”  was  suf- 
ficient to  arouse  the  deepest  animosity  in  the  heart  of 
every  patriotic  native,  except  such  as  have  lost  all  hope 
of  regeneration  from  within. 

Almost  every  paper  published  in  China  contains  col- 
umns of  “How  shall  we  divide  China,”  etc.,  etc.,  which,  if 
printed  in  any  other  country,  would  create  riot  and  blood- 
shed, and  the  editor  would  be  arrested  as  a traitor  and 


24 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


banished  from  the  land  and  the  paper  and  building  de- 
stroyed. Yet  this  has  been  going  on  for  years  in  China. 
The  officials  have  had  these  papers  translated  to  them, 
and,  naturally,  in  the  highest  circles,  and  even  in  the  court 
itself  the  spirit  of  revenge  and  a determination  to  oppose 
this  has  arisen.  The  court,  thus  insulted,  decided  that  the 
country  could  be  saved  from  division  by  the  powers  by 
the  help  of  the  Boxers  who  claimed  such  wonderful  pres- 
ervation from  death.  Therefore,  on  June  21st,  Prince 
Tuan  and  Kang-Yi  were  declared  to  be  the  Supreme 
Chiefs  of  the  “Volunteer  Harmony  Fists.”  This  Prince 
Tuan,  if  not  a scholar  and  a politician,  was  at  any  rate 
a brave  man,  and  worthy  of  a better  end  than  that  which 
he  fatuously  chose  for  himself.  With  more  education  and 
with  wiser  counsels  than  those  of  the  execrable  Kang-Yi, 
he  might  have  done  real  good  to  the  Empire,  but  now 
that  he  has  nearly  succeeded  in  bringing  the  dynasty  to 
an  end,  he  must  suffer  for  his  ignorance,  pride  and  rash- 
ness. A semi-barbarian,  Prince  Tuan  was  really  a pa- 
triot in  his  own  savage  way.  And  there  was  undoubt- 
edly an  element  of  heroism  in  the  man,  who  sacrificed 
everything  to  realize  his  ideal,  and  who,  stung  by  the 
indignities  inflicted  by  the  world,  had  the  courage  to 
challenge  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth  to  wrest  the 
imperial  sceptre  from  his  hands. 

Third,  oppression  and  lawsuits  by  the  natives  who 
have  entered  the  church  (especially  Roman  Catholic)  for 
that  purpose. 

The  right  policy  to  follow  in  dealing  with  China  is  to 
insist  on  and  enforce  right  and  fair  treatment  of  foreign- 
ers, absolute  safety  of  the  life  of  every  law-abiding  for- 
eign resident  anywhere  in  China,  also  to  demand  and  ob- 
tain security  of  foreign  property,  with  absolute  religious 


REASONS  FOR  THE  MOVEMENT. 


25 


toleration.  But  while  all  this  is  done  the  predisposing 
causes  of  trouble  in  the  past  that  can  be  should  be  avoid- 
ed, and  one  of  these  is  the  mistaken,  even  well-meant, 
intervention  of  foreign  missionaries  in  disputes  or  law- 
suits between  their  converts  or  adherents  and  other  na- 
tives. There  is  no  longer  the  slightest  doubt  that  much 
ill-feeling  has  been  aroused  by  the  course  of  justice  hav- 
ing, as  many  natives  think,  been  averted  by  foreign  in- 
fluence and  interference.  Hard  as  it  may  seem,  all  official 
status  should  be  taken  from  religious  teachers,  of  what- 
ever creed  they  may  be.  Absolute  rules  should  be  en- 
forced that  any  missionary  attempting  to  interfere  or 
intervene  between  natives  in  their  various  disputes  should 
be  first  warned,  and  on  repetition  be  deported.  Any  cause 
of  complaint  he  may  think  he  has  should  be  laid  before 
his  Consul,  and  dealt  with  through  such  proper  repre- 
sentative. We  have  no  right  whatever,  in  the  interests  of 
any  religion,  to  make  converts  aliens  in  their  own  coun- 
try. If  religious  teachers  cannot  make  headway  without 
what  amounts  to  state  patronage,  then  they  must  fail. 
Rarely  is  the  missionary  so  constituted  that  he  can  exer- 
cise judicial  functions,  or  even  perform  the  duties  of  an 
advocate  wisely.  He  must  naturally  be  prejudiced  in  fa- 
vor of  his  adherents. 

If  the  foreign  powers  insist  on  China  adopting  abso- 
lute religious  toleration,  without  any  state  patronage  of 
any  religion  whatever,  as  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  withdrawing  from  missionaries  of  any  sort 
and  all  denominations,  whether  Taoist,  Buddhist,  Ro- 
man Catholic  or  Protestant,  all  special  official  status, 
a bone  of  contention  would  be  destroyed  and  much  done 
to  insure  peaceful  conditions  for  foreigners  in  China  in 
the  future.  A religion  that  in  the  last  resort  needs  the 


2 6 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


intervention  of  arms  to  support  its  propaganda  is  not 
worth  giving  to  any  nation.  Paul  did  not  ask  for  any 
such  help,  and  yet  his  missions  were  the  most  successful 
ever  conducted.  Christian  truth  is  more  powerful  in 
making  headway  unaided  by  force  than  any  admixture 
with  the  error  of  Crusading  zeal  in  any  degree  whatever. 
Official  status  must  ever  in  the  last  resort  lead  to  armed 
intervention  in  its  support  or  to  those  who  claim  it,  fore- 
going their  own  nationality  to  obtain  that  of  the  country 
whose  fine  features  they  desire. 

Official  status  was  demanded  from  China  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  through  the  French  Minister,  and  in  an 
edict  sent  out  by  the  Empress  Dowager  in  1899,  all  Chris- 
tion  ministers  were  granted  this  status.  A bishop  now 
ranked  with  a viceroy  and  a priest  with  a Tao-tai.  The 
Catholics  quickly  grasped  this  temporal  power,  but  the 
Protestants  almost  to  a man  refused  it,  and  they  declare 
this  to  be  not  in  accordance  with  their  teaching.  It  is  the 
old  story  of  Rome  seeking  temporal  power.  The  Cath- 
olic priests  are  ever  intriguing,  and  the  Chinese  have  long 
since  been  able  to  discern  between  the  Catholics  and 
Protestants. 

Very  often,  yes,  almost  always,  lawsuits  and  oppres- 
sions are  carried  on  without  the  foreigners’  knowledge, 
and  never  found  out.  The  natives  have  many  ways  to 
carry  out  their  designs,  such  as  stealing  the  missionary 
card,  which  means  to  the  Chinese  that  the  power  and 
influence  of  the  foreigner  is  behind  it.  Also  the  forging 
of  cards,  etc.,  to  prove  to  the  victim  that  he  is  carrying 
on  this  through  the  orders  of  the  foreigner.  A close 
watch,  therefore,  should  be  kept,  not  only  on  your  neigh- 
borhood, but  surrounding  ones  as  well. 

Fourth,  Boxer  superstition.  The  rise  of  the  Boxer 


REASONS  FOR  TIIE  MOVEMENT. 


27 


movement  is  a fine  illustration  of  the  power  of  supersti- 
tion over  the  mind.  European  residents  of  the  far  East 
are  expressing-  surprise  that  intelligent  men,  such  as  suc- 
cessful merchants,  scholars  and  high  officials,  should 
really  think  it  possible  that  the  secret  rites  and  incanta- 
tions of  these  fanatics  have  power  to  make  them  invul- 
nerable to  attacks  by  sword,  spear  or  Mauser  bullets. 
Yet  a little  reflection  will  show  that  there  is  nothing  re- 
markable in  this  credulity.  It  has  not  been  so  very  long 
since  Western  people  held  very  similar  views.  Two  hun- 
dred years  ago  the  belief  in  witchcraft  was  universal. 
Many  of  the  most  learned  men  in  Europe  and  America 
thought  it  quite  possible  for  a witch  to  transport  herself 
at  will  from  place  to  place  and  to  use  occult  power  for 
the  injury  of  others  or  defense  of  herself,  and  the  man 
who  dared  deny  this  found  himself  at  once  under  sus- 
picion of  heresy.  The  text,  “Thou  shalt  not  suffer  a witch 
to  live,”  was  sufficient  to  hurry  hundreds  of  innocent 
men  and  women  to  the  gallows.  The  persecution  of 
witches  fortunately  has  been  abandoned,  but  the  super- 
stition which  made  such  a persecution  possible  has  not 
even  yet  wholly  disappeared.  Astrologers  and  mediums 
still  have  their  victims,  and  the  wearing  of  charms  and 
amulets  for  protection  against  disease  or  the  preserva- 
tion of  life  in  battle  or  at  sea  is  by  no  means  uncommon. 
If  such  credulity  is  far  less  common  in  the  West  than 
a hundred  ^/ears  ago,  so  that  even  people  who  hesitate 
to  sit  down  with  thirteen  at  table  or  begin  a journey  on 
Friday,  laugh  at  themselves  and  would  fain  share  in  the 
more  wholesome  scepticism  which  is  abroad. 

The  patient  researches  of  men  have  discovered  many 
of  the  secrets  so  long  hidden  from  their  knowledge.  The 
mysterious  operations  of  nature  are  no  longer  occult. 


28 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


Everywhere  man  is  wresting  from  her  the  control  of  her 
mighty  forces  and  using  them  for  the  blessing  of  his  fel- 
lows. He  finds  forces  operating  according  to  fixed  and 
immutable  laws. 

A fine  illustration  of  the  change  which  has  been 
wrought  by  science  in  the  modern  world  is  given  in  the 
recently  published  accounts  of  the  observation  at  Algiers 
of  the  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  not  long  ago.  While  noted 
astronomers,  with  all  their  delicate  instruments,  were 
carefully  studying  the  phenomena,  photographing  the 
corona  and  gathering  data  for  the  solution  of  many  im- 
portant problems,  the  native  population  was  howling  in 
the  streets  in  abject  misery,  expecting  the  end  of  all 
things.  Now,  such  a fanatical  uprising  as  this  of  the 
Boxers  is  possible  only  where  dense  ignorance  of  natural 
law  prevails.  Movements  equally  preposterous  have 
swept  the  West  in  less  intelligent  times. 

We  shall  make  a great  mistake,  therefore,  if  we  treat 
the  Boxer  movement  as  something  abnormal,  alto- 
gether unrelated  to  the  common  beliefs  and  practices  of 
the  Chinese.  It  is  but  one  manifestation  of  a supersti- 
tion that  shows  itself  in  a thousand  forms,  and  only 
Christianity  and  civilization  can  effectually  cure  or  de- 
stroy this  malady. 

Fifth,  inability  of  our  Consuls  and  Ministers  to  deal 
with  Chinese  officials. 

The  Ministers  in  Peking  have  probably  realized  by 
this  time  that  the  Empress  Dowager’s  coup  d’  ctat  was  not 
merely  the  petty  family  squabble  they  affected  to  believe 
it  was.  Onlookers  proverbially  see  most  of  the  game.  In 
central  China  we  not  only  saw  it ; we  saw  through  it. 
Next,  therefore,  to  the  partition  error,  and  to  what 
seemed  to  the  Chinese  mischievous  assumpiton  of  au- 


REASONS  FOR  THE  MOVEMENT. 


29 


thority  by  the  Roman  Catholic  missionary,  we  attribute 
our  present  difficulties  to  the  misjudgmcnt  of  events  by 
our  Consuls  and  Ministers. 

Time  and  time  again  have  the  Consuls  and  Ministers 
been  advised  to  deal  with  officials  as  the  source  of  riots, 


THE  RECEPTION  GIVEN  BY  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER  TO  THE 
LEGATION  LADIES  AFTER  SHE  HAD  DEPOSED  THE  EM- 
PEROR. 

etc.,  and  not  accept  the  heads  of  a few  poor  coolies  (who 
in  many  cases  were  bought  up  for  a few  thousand  cash) 
to  expiate  the  crime  of  some  official  or  gentry,  as  it  was 
done  in  the  first  Tientsin  massacre.  At  other  times  a few 


30 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


thousand  Mexican  dollars  were  received  and  the  mur- 
derers cleared.  Especially  was  this  so  in  the  Sung-pu 
case,  and  the  settlement  of  the  last  called  forth  the  fol- 
lowing prayer  from  an  exile  at  Ichang: 

Because,  O Lord,  there  is  none  other  way 
Whereby  we  may  escape  these  evil  days, 

Because  we  are  as  jetsam  on  the  strand, 

Forgotten  of  our  country  and  our  kin, 

We,  who  join  East  to  West,  the  pioneers 
Of  many  better  days  that  are  to  be ; 

Because  we,  ever  toiling  overseas, 

We  who  have  sold  our  heritage,  our  all. 

Excepting  certain  ancient  chartered  rights 
To  breathe  Thine  air  and  tread  the  common  earth ; 

Now  see  these  rights  invaded  day  by  day 
By  the  encroaching  tide  of  pagan  wiles, 

Of  native  insolence  and  savagery ; 

Because  the  distant  fate  of  Margary 
Is  coming  ever  nearer  to  our  doors, 

And  deeds  which  once  had  set  the  world  ablaze, 

Aye,  even  to  the  starting  of  Crusades, 

Are  looked  upon  as  commonplace  and  trite ; 

Because  a murdered  Christian  does  not  bring. 

As  did  with  Rome’s  proud  citizens  of  old, 

Swift-footed  vengeance  on  the  slayers’  track, 

But  is  atoned  for  by  official  lies 
And  certain  hideous  payments  of  sycee, 

Which,  on  a rapidly  descending  scale, 

Will  soon  attain  that  meagre  estimate 
At  which  they  quoted  sparrows  long  ago; 

Because  we  know  not  whose  it  next  shall  be 
To  guard  his  home  against  the  howling  mob, 


REASONS  FOR  THE  MOVEMENT. 


31 


To  be  the  victim  of  their  fierce  attack, 

And  then  of  mild,  politely-penned  dispatch, 

To  leave  his  mangled  carcass  in  the  street, 

With  face  uncovered,  while  the  Consul  sits 
In  some  Viceregal  Yamen,  over  tea, 

Assessing  the  small  value  of  the  dead  ; 

And  last,  because  the  sacredness  of  life 
Rests  on  nice  points  of  quality  and  clothes ; 
Therefore  it  is,  O Lord,  that  now  we  pray, 

When  next  the  rabble  moves  to  deeds  of  blood, 

Let  not  the  pillage  or  the  slaughter  be 
Of  Customs  hireling  or  merchant  churl, 

Or  humble  missionary,  glad  to  gain 
Exit  from  trouble  to  a martyr’s  crown, 

But  rather  grant,  when  the  incited  mob, 

Like  unleashed  bloodhound,  seeks  its  nearest  prey, 
That  it  may  find  obtrusive  on  its  path 
Some  personage  important  to  the  state, 

Or  high  official  representative, 

Some  traveling  faddist,  potent  in  the  press, 

Or  information-gathering  M.  P., 

Some  Anti-Opium  League  authority, 

Aristocratic  trotter  of  the  globe, 

Or  human  atom  authorized  to  wear 
Gold  lace  upon  the  edges  of  his  clothes, 

Upon  whose  taking  off  there  shall  ensue 
The  steady  tramp  of  solid  infantry 
And  inexpensive  Chinese  funerals  ; 

That,  with  the  thunder  of  artillery, 

And  sack  of  goodly  cities,  there  may  be 
Restored  again  that  wholesome  deference, 

That  usual  and  necessary  respect 


32 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


Which,  from  the  Asiatic,  is  our  due — 

And  thus,  from  evil,  shall  arise  great  good. 

— Tung  Chia,  in  “Lays  and  Relays.” 

It  is  right  and  just  to  say  here  that  all  consuls  and  min- 
isters are  not  alike,  for  we  have  notable  examples  to  the 
contrary.  We  had  two  in  Shanghai  which  deserve  men- 
tion here,  namely,  Consul  General  Warren,  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  Consul  General  Goodnow,  the  American  repre- 
sentative. They  have  been  men  of  the  hour.  They  are 
in  China  for  the  interest  of  their  nationals,  which,  as  far 
as  looks  go,  cannot  be  said  of  all.  They  have  shown 
great  shrewdness  and  sense,  and  have  a capacity  to  com- 
prehend situations  and  ability  to  adjust  themselves  to  any 
condition  or  circumstance.  Consul  General  Goodnow  is 
just  the  man  for  the  place,  and,  with  his  right  hand  sup- 
porter, the  Vice  Consul,  Dr.  John  Hykes,  who  has  spent 
over  thirty  years  in  China,  we  have  had  help  and  advice 
we  could  rely  upon.  America  is  weak  in  her  consular 
force  simply  because  politicians  are  sent  out,  in  many 
cases,  every  four  years,  instead  of  men  fitted  for  the 
position.  What  we  want  is  men  who  can  pass  a civil 
service  examination  and  come  to  China  and  learn  the 
language  and  Eastern  ways  of  thinking  for  two  or  more 
years  before  taking  up  consular  duties,  and  then  let  them 
work  lip  in  the  service  the  same  as  men  of  other  nations. 
Why,  it  takes  four  years  to  know  anything  about  China 
as  it  should  be  known,  let  alone  do  anything.  No  mis- 
sionary society  would  trust  one  of  their  members  to 
transact  mission  business  with  the  people  until  after  re- 
siding three  or  four  years  in  the  country.  How  much 
more,  then,  should  the  consuls  who  do  business  for  a 
mighty  nation  know  the  people  and  their  ways. 


kEASONS  FOR  THE  MOVEMENT. 


What  business  house  in  the  world  would  allow  a green 
hand  to  take  up  the  important  and  difficult  positions  first? 
Why,  none ; their  men  would  have  to  work  up  and  show 
themselves  worthy.  Then,  why,  in  the  name  of  common 
sense,  should  green  hands  be  put  to  the  head  of  affairs 
that  they  know  nothing  about.  I say  nothing  emphatic- 
ally, for  the  Asiatic  has  neither  had  the  opportunities  nor 
training  of  the  Westerner  during  the  last  500  years,  and 
to  attempt  to  regulate  our  intercourse  with  them  on  the 
lines  with  which  the  mutual  relations  between  the  various 
leading  countries  are  conducted  is  folly.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  soon,  very  soon,  these  consular  appointments  will  be 
taken  out  of  politics  and  placed  on  a common  sense  plat- 
form— “civil  service”— and  serve  for  the  nation,  not 
party. 

In  referring  to  the  exile’s  prayer,  let  us  say  that  as 
long  as  there  was  uncertainty  about  the  Ministers’  safety 
in  Peking  all  the  nations  were  for  destruction  and  ex- 
termination, but  when  relieved,  what  then?  When  the 
question  of  relieving  missionaries  at  Poo-ting-fu  or  find 
out  if  they  were  dead  or  alive,  the  answer  came:  “They 
are  only  missionaries !”  Ah ! that  has  been  the  trouble. 
“Only  another  missionary  gone;  what  does  it  matter?” 
Nations  have,  therefore,  not  been  strong  for  honor  and 
life,  but — does  it  pay?  will  it  help  trade?  Or,  if  they  do 
demand  retribution,  is  it  the  punishment  of  the  crim- 
inals? No,  but  a few  dollars  or  a slice  of  territory. 

This  should  not  be  done  in  the  future,  but  the  crim- 
inals should  be  dealt  with  severely.  Minister  Wu  in  one 
of  his  addresses  stated  that  Christians  and  the  Christian 
nations  are  crying  out  for  vengeance  when,  according 
to  their  teaching,  they  should  be  willing  to  accept  almost 


34 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


any  terms.  We  might  call  to  his  honor’s  mind  this  fact, 
that,  although  God  is  a God  of  love  He  is  also  a God  of 
justice,  and  He  has  decreed  that  he  that  taketh  the  sword 
shall  perish  by  the  sword. 


BEGINNING  OF  TROUBLE  AND  SENDING  UP 
OF  LEGATION  GUARDS. 


Chapter  III. 

Mr.  Gammon,  of  Tientsin,  writes : “For  many  months 
Boxer  bands  were  increasing  and  countless  outrages 
committed ; but  these  were  confined  to  native  Christians, 
and  did  not  give  cause  for  strong  action  on  the  part  of 
the  foreign  ministers,  though  they  did  all  that  lay  within 
their  power  to  cause  the  Chinese  Government  to  suppress 
them.  Men,  women  and  children  were  put  to  death  out- 
right, after  being  robbed  and  tortured  and  their  homes 
destroyed.  Disturbances,  though  frequent  and  plentiful, 
were  in  distant  and  more  or  less  isolated  places,  from 
which  reports  were  slow  in  reaching  us,  and  rendered 
untrustworthy  by  the  transforming  imaginations  of  the 
Chinese.  For  this  reason  visitors  to  the  North  were  de- 
ceived by  surface  appearances,  and  while  exaggerated  re- 
ports were  spread,  many  of  these  observers  were  driven 
to  the  other  extreme,  and  pronounced  a comparative  calm 
where  better  informed  people  could  detect  the  rumbling  of 
a volcano  soon  to  burst  into  flame.  From  many  stations 
in  the  interior  where  native  churches  were  established 
came  tales  of  persecution,  sometimes  confined  to  one  man 
alone,  and  in  other  cases  whole  families  and  whole  vil- 
lages suffering  loss  of  life  and  destruction  of  property. 


36 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


In  view  of  the  rapid  and  gigantic  increase  both  of  the 
Boxers  and  their  nefarious  operations,  we  had  come  to 
look  for  a sudden  crisis,  and  this  was  soon  reached.  For 
a long  time  past  Pao-ting-fu  and  vicinity  (in  Chihli)  were 
the  center  of  organization  for  the  Boxers,  and  it  was 
near  that  city  that  a village  of  native  Catholics  made, 
from  the  roofs  of  their  houses,  a successful  defense 
against  an  attack  by  the  Boxers,  killing  seventy  of  their 
number,  with  but  little  loss  to  themselves. 

Another  fierce  attack  on  Catholic  converts  was  in  the 
vicinity  of  Pao-ting-fu,  at  a village  called  Kao-lo,  thirty 
li  from  Tsing  Hsien,  and  also  at  another  place  some  ten 
li  from  Tang-shu.  The  Christians  were  holding  service, 
when  the  chapel  was  attacked  by  Boxers,  the  doors  fast- 
ened and  the  building  fired,  and  over  one  hundred  per- 
ished. This  would  easily  account  for  the  great  loss  of 
life.  It  was,  therefore,  in  the  Pao-ting-fu  district  that 
we  expected  the  beginning  of  a great  uprising,  and  in  this 
we  were  not  mistaken. 

THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  RAILWAY  AND  LANDING  OF 
FOREIGN  TROOPS. 

On  Sunday,  May  27th,  1900,  a large  body  of  men, 
armed  with  knives,  clubs  and  a few  firearms,  marched  up 
the  line  of  the  Pao-ting-fu  Railway  stations.  A portion 
of  the  line  was  destroyed,  the  telegraph  cut,  and  by  Mon- 
day morning  six  stations  were  burned,  including  the 
homes  of  Chinese  residents  and  the  shops  of  native  mer- 
chants. 

A panic  ran  along  the  line  long  before  the  arrival  of 
the  Boxers,  and  the  places  destroyed  were  mostly  de- 
serted in  time  to  save  life.  Native  refugees  came  pour- 
ing- into  Tientsin,  leaving  their  homes,  shops  and  the 
property  of  the  railway  unprotected  and  unwatched.  At 


BEGINNING  OF  TROUBLE. 


37 


Feng-tai,  the  junction  of  the  Peking  and  Pao-ting-fu 
lines,  there  was  a group  of  foreign  houses  (the  homes  of 
foreign  railway  employees),  a roundhouse,  containing 
several  locomotives,  large  car  and  machine  shops,  store- 
houses, a small  village  of  native  houses  and  shops  and  a 
large  station  building,  all  of  which  Were  looted  and 
burned;  the  residents  fortunately  escaping  by  train  to 
Tientsin. 

The  news  of  this  rioting  and  destruction  brought  tem- 
porary chaos  to  Peking  and  Tientsin.  Immense  crowds 
assembled  at  the  stations  and  in  the  streets,  eagerly  dis- 
cussing the  ever-changing  reports  that  came  from  a mul- 
titude of  sources.  Excitement  ran  high,  and  there  was 
a general  feeling  of  alarm,  not  for  residents  in  either  of 
these  cities,  but  for  the  many  missionaries  and  colpor- 
teurs in  distant  and  isolated  places,  especially  those  in 
Pao-ting-fu,  with  whom  communication  by  rail  and  by 
telegraph  was  entirely  cut  off. 

Application  was  made  to  the  Chinese  Government  for 
permission  to  land  marines  and  sailors  from  the  men-of- 
war  arriving,  and  to  quarter  them  in  Peking,  and  when 
the  Tsung-Li-Yamen  (Foreign  Office)  replied  that 
Prince  Chung  must  first  be  cohsulted,  the  Minister  sent 
word  that,  with  or  without  permission  of  the  officials, 
they  would  land  and  station  at  Peking.  Admiral  Kempff, 
on  the  U.  S.  F.  S.  Newark,  had  arrived  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Pei-ho  (sixty  miles  from  Tientsin  by  river,  thirty 
miles  by  rail)  on  Sunday,  June  3d,  but,  knowing  nothing 
of  what  was  taking  place,  did  not  land  men  at  once.  The 
reports  of  Monday  being  confirmed,  our  Consul  imme- 
diately telegraphed  the  facts  to  the  Admiral,  who'  landed 
100  men,  two  machine  guns  and  a field  piece,  within  one 
hour  after  receiving  the  Consul’s  message. 


38 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


With  the  exception  of  a small  party  of  Japanese,  who 
came  during  the  forenoon,  the  American  sailors  and 
marines  were  the  first  to  arrive.  On  Wednesday  guards 
from  the  ships  of  five  nations  had  landed  here,  and  per- 
mission was  then  sought  to  send  a portion  of  them  to 
Peking,  but  the  Viceroy  and  Peking  officials  put  every 
obstacle  in  their  way.  On  Thursday,  however,  the  Chi- 
nese officials,  finding  further  resistance  useless,  granted 
permission  for  thirty  men  of  each  nationality  to  go  by 


REV.  NORMAN  AND  ROBERTSON, 
MARTYRS — 


train  and  station  themselves  at  their  respective  legations, 
and  at  4 o’clock  a special  train  conveyed  them  to  Peking, 
and  guards  of  like  strength  were  left  in  Tientsin.  Na- 
tive refugees  fled  to  Tientsin  for  safety,  all  of  them  leav- 
ing their  homes  in  ashes,  and  many  of  them  after  having 
seen  parents,  wives  and  children  hacked  to  pieces  by  the 
heartless  mobs.  Many  villages  about  Peking  have  been 
sacked  and  the  Christians  exterminated.  A large  propor- 
tion of  the  refugees  were  formerly  prosperous  men,  but 
they  are  now  destitute. 


BEGINNING  OF  TROUBLE. 


39 


Two  more  English  missionaries,  Messrs.  Norman  and 
Robinson,  were  slaughtered.  Mr.  Robinson  was  killed 
soon  after  his  capture,  after  having  been  tortured,  while 
Mr.  Norman  for  a time  was  held  for  a ransom  of  40,000 
taels.  Before  terms  could  be  offered  or  a rescue  party  sent 
out,  however,  he,  too,  was  murdered.  A party  of  French 
and  Belgian  engineers,  with  their  wives  and  children,  at- 
tempted to  flee  from  Pao-ting-fu  and  embarked  for  Tien- 
tsin on  native  boats,  but  the  news  of  their  coming  went 
before  them,  and  they  were  obliged  to  fight  their  way 
desperately  through  every  village.  They  killed  a number 
of  Boxers  and  received  several  wounds,  and  were  finally 
obliged  to  leave  their  boats  and  walk  to  Tientsin,  which 
they  did  after  three  days,  living  on  river  water  and  rice. 
They  reached  Tientsin  in  a terrible  condition,  the  ladies 
with  bleeding  feet  and  several  wounds,  and  the  men  suf- 
fering from  various  injuries.  Unfortunately,  some  of 
their  number  had  become  separated  and  left  behind  and 
were  killed.  The  head  of  a Frenchman  was  seen  mounted 
on  a pole  not  far  from  Tientsin,  and  later  the  bodies  of  a 
man  and  his  wife  were  found,  the  woman  having  been 
terribly  cut  with  knives. 

The  missionaries  at  Pao-ting-fu  refused  to  leave  at  this 
time,  and  they  were  all  murdered  on  June  30th,  1900. 

The  railway  authorities  fought  hard  to  maintain  com- 
munication with  Peking  (the  heads  of  the  departments 
being  British),  but  the  line  was  interrupted  by  the  burn- 
ing of  bridges  and  stations,  and  trains  frequently  re- 
turned, unable  to  get  through.  Three  more  stations  were 
destroyed  in  as  many  days  and  two  bridges  burned,  each 
time  a step  nearer  to  Tien-tsin.  The  Chinese  troops  sent 
to  guard  the  line  failed  to  accomplish  anything,  and  even 
if  they  were  not  then  in  sympathy  with  this  anti-foreign 


40 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


movement  and  members  of  the  Boxer  society,  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  they  had  secret  instructions 
not  to  resist  or  punish  the  Boxers.  Meanwhile  the  pow- 
ers were  daily  landing  sailors  and  marines,  and  Tientsin 
was  one  great  military  post,  full  of  moving  patrols  and 
guards  stationed  at  every  vulnerable  point. 

The  Boxers  assembled  by  thousands,  coming  in  bands 
of  50  to  100,  and  sometimes  500,  from  every  point  of  the 
compass.  It  was  for  the  people  of  Peking,  Pao-ting-fu, 
Tung-chow  and  other  points  in  the  interior  that  we  were 
anxious.  The  Chinese  were  in  a very  excited  state,  and 
to  enter  the  native  city  would  mean  certain  death  to  any 
foreigner.  Reports  were  circulated  that  we  had  poisoned 
the  wells  and  food  and  that  we  had  cast  spells  on  families 
and  houses.  Medicine  to  counteract  these  evils  was  sold 
at  high  prices,  and  the  foreigner  was  both  hated  and 
feared.  Printed  red  circulars,  stating  that  we  were  using 
the  eyes  of  children  for  medicine,  and  stories  far  more 
horrible,  and  calling  upon  men  to  rise  and  “sweep  the 
foreign  devils  into  the  sea,’’  were  freely  distributed,  in- 
citing the  people  to  more  fanaticism  and  striking  terror 
to  the  hearts  of  peaceful  natives.  It  seems  strange  to 
walk  the  streets  armed  and  to  sleep  with  rifles,  revolvers 
and  belts  of  ammunition  by  the  bedside,  but  that  is  what 
we  were  forced  to  do.  Perhaps  the  foe  that  we  had 
most  to  dread  in  Tientsin  was  fire,  for  that  we  could  not 
fight  with  troops  or  gunboats.  Repeated  attempts  were 
made  from  time  to  time  to  fire  prominent  buildings. 

Some  Christians  recanted  to  save  their  lives,  and  were 
saddled  and  bridled  and  forced  to  crawl  to  the  temple 
idols,  where  every  indignity  was  heaped  upon  them,  but 
be  it  said  to  the  glory  of  the  church  in  China  and  the 
power  of  the  Word,  that  thousands  have  given  their  lives 


BEGINNING  OF  TROUBLE. 


41 


for  Christ’s  sake,  and  have  been  true  and  steadfast  to  the 
end,  while  others  have  not  hesitated  to  join  the  church  to 
share  in  the  persecution. 

. On  June  7th  twenty-five  American  marines  from  the 
U.  S.  S.  Monocacy  were  landed.  Two  men-of-war 
arrived  and  landed  men  also,  an  elaborate  defense  of  the 
settlement  was  arranged  for,  and  the  streets  barricaded. 
The  railway  tracks  had  been  torn  up,  and  as  the  em- 
ployees had  deserted  the  stations,  no  details  of  the  damage 
done  were  received,  nor  could  repairs  be  made.  Peking 
was,  therefore,  cut  off. 

Edicts  from  the  Empress  Dowager  pat  the  Boxers  on 
the  back,  and  General  Nieh,  the  only  man  who  has  really 
tried  to  do  his  duty,  is  to  be  reprimanded,  while  Tung 
Fu-Hsiang,  the  most  anti-foreign  general  in  the  army, 
and  the  one  who  has  done  most  to  foster  the  Boxer  so- 
ciety, is  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  troops.  That  the  sol- 
diers received  distinct  orders  not  to  fire  upon  the  Boxers 
has  been  proved  in  many  ways. 

Tientsin,  June  10. 

Late  last  night  telegrams  were  received  from  the  Min- 
isters that  matters  looked  very  serious  in  Peking,  and 
asking  for  the  immediate  dispatch  of  troops  by  any  and 
every  possible  means.  A consular  meeting  was  held  at 
midnight,  in  which  the  naval  officers  of  the  defense  took 
part,  and  it  was  decided  to  take,  by  force  if  necessary,  the 
railway  and  to  run  a train  through  by  constructing  the 
line.  Early  this  morning  the  troops  were  on  the  move, 
and  two  trains,  with  rails,  sleepers  and  constructors,  and 
carrying  a thousand  troops,  with  large  supplies  of  am- 
munition, field  pieces  and  machine  guns,  were  sent  off. 
The  Viceroy  finally  gave  permission  for  the  use  of  the 
railway,  but  they  soop  met  with  great  opposition.  It  was 


42 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


understood  that  the  Ministers  consider  their  lives  in  dan- 
ger, and  that  if  the  troops  got  through  all  the  foreigners 
mere  would  be  sent  to  Tientsin.  The  Russians  and 
French  refused  to  co-operate,  but  this  morning  there  were 
no  less  than  four  hundred  Russians  to  go  and  a large 
number  of  French,  as  well  as  Italians,  Austrians,  Amer- 
icans and  British.  Five  hundred  British  were  sent,  and 


PART  OF  ADMIRAL  SEYMOUR’S  RELIEF  COLUMN. 


also  one  hundred  men  who  were  here  from  American 
ships.  Fresh  troops  were  sent  up  the  line  as  fast  as  the 
men  could  be  brought  and  trains  made  ready.  In  the 
meantime  we  had  less  than  fourteen  hundred  troops  in 
Tientsin,  with  more  to  come.  Capt.  McCalla  was  in 
charge,  but  afterwards  it  was  decided  that  Admiral  Sey- 
mour should  command  the  expedition  to  Peking,  which 
left  Tientsin  on  the  morning  of  the  tenth. 


ADMIRAL  SEYMOUR’S  RELIEF  COLUMN. 
By  a U.  S.  Officer. 


Chapter  IV. 

What  is  known  as  the  Seymour  Relief  Column  has  be- 
come so  famous  that  a detailed  account  of  that  cam- 
paign by  a participant  and  eye-witness  may  be  of  interest 
to  many. 

The  Allied  Forces  from  the  various  men-of-war  lying 
at  Taku,  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Seymour,  left 
Tientsin  on  trains  for  Peking  about  9 A.  M.  Sunday,  June 
10th,  with  the  object  of  escorting  the  several  Ministers 
from  Peking  to  the  ships. 

The  force  was  about  2,100,  divided  approximately  as 
follows : Russians,  600 ; British,  500 ; Germans,  400 ; 
Americans,  200;  Japanese,  150,  and  the  balance  between 
the  Italians,  French  and  Austrians.  Having  two  heavy 
trains,  and  the  necessity  of  keeping  as  near  together  as 
possible,  made  our  progress  rather  slow.  Shortly  after 
noon  we  passed  Yang-tsun,  a distance  of  sixteen  miles 
from  Tientsin,  without  having  met  with  any  opposition. 

At  Yang-tsun  there  were  3,000  Imperial  Chinese 
troops,  all  armed  with  the  latest  improved  Maunlicher 
rifle,  but  they  all  appeared  very  friendly,  and  we  stopped 
there  for  half  an  hour  and  the  men  bought  eggs  and 
fruit. 


44 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


About  five  miles  above  Yang-tsun  we  met  our  first  op- 
position, and  I had  my  first  “pop”  at  a genuine  Boxer. 
There  was  a small  body  of  them  engaged  in  tearing  up 
the  track.  We  fired  on  them,  killing  four,  and  the  rest 
took  to  their  heels.  It  took  us  most  of  the  balance  of  the 
afternoon  to  repair  the  track,  so  the  train  was  at  a stand- 
still there  until  the  next  morning. 

Not  until  we  had  gone  nearly  two  miles  ahead  of  the 
train  did  we  see  anything  alarming,  but  just  as  we  had 
decided  to  push  on  to  Lang-fang,  we  saw  a body  of 
Boxers,  whose  number  we  estimated  at  about  1,200, 
streaming  out  of  a large  village  on  the  left  of  the  line  and 
making  for  another  village  lower  down,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  cutting  us  off  from  the  trains.  We  kept  up  a run- 
ning fight  with  them  for  a distance  of  a mile  and  a half, 
dropping  some  thirty  of  them.  When  within  700  or  800 
yards  of  the  trains  we  halted  on  the  railway  embankment, 
and  gave  them  so  hot  a magazine  fire  that  we  drove  them 
across  the  right  front  of  the  bluejackets,  where  they 
were  exposed  to  a severe  fire  from  the  Centurion’s  Maxim 
and  rifles.  No  men,  however  brave,  could  have  stood  the 
punishment,  and  the  Boxers  fled,  leaving  some  450  dead 
on  the  field. 

One  cannot  withhold  a tribute  of  admiration  to  the 
gallantry  of  these  poor  wretches,  armed  mainly  with 
spears  and  swords,  in  attempting  to  rush  in  open  daylight 
a trainload  of  disciplined  European  troops,  armed  with 
all  the  most  modern  weapons. 

At  night  our  men  had  to  sleep  on  top  or  under  the 
cars,  or  any  place  that  they  could  spread  their  blankets. 

The  next  morning  we  started  bright  and  early,  only  to 
find  that  a number  of  rails  had  been  removed  and  had  to 
be  relaid.  In  some  places  it  would  be  only  a couple  of 


ADMIRAL  SEYMOUR  S RELIEF  COLUMN 


45 


rails,  but  in  others  there  would  be  several  hours’  hard 
work.  The  men  went  at  it  with  a will,  and  there  was 
scarcely  any  growling,  which  “Jack,”  as  a rule,  considers 
his  special  privilege. 

During  Monday  we  made  about  fifteen  miles  advance, 
and  were  not  attacked  by  the  Boxers.  Tuesday  was  a 
repetition  of  Monday,  except  that  we  could  see  a great 
many  Chinese  way  off  in  the  distance,  and  had  a little 
scrimmage  with  a band  of  about  forty  or  fifty,  killing 
fourteen  of  them.  Camped  Tuesday  night  at  Lo-fa, 
where  there  is  a switch  and  sidetrack  running  into  a 
walled  enclosure.  The  company  from  H.  M.  S.  En- 
dymion  fortified  that  enclosure  and  mounted  some  Nor- 
denfeldt  and  some  Maxim  guns  on  the  walls,  and  called 
it  Fort  Endymion. 

Wednesday  morning  we  started,  leaving  a garrison  of 
about  120  British  bluejackets  in  Fort  Endymion.  Our 
progress  on  that  day  was  even  slower  than  on  the  pre- 
vious day,  and  we  went  only  about  twelve  miles  to  a sta- 
tion where  there  had  been  a water  tank,  but  it  had  all 
been  destroyed  by  the  Boxers,  and  the  boys  had  to  water 
the  engines  by  hand.  We  camped  there  that  night,  and 
early  the  next  morning,  just  as  we  had  finished  breakfast, 
we  were  attacked  by  a large  body  of  Boxers,  estimated 
to  be  about  1,200  or  1,500.  In  some  way  that  I can 
scarcely  understand  they  were  almost  upon  us  before  the 
alarm  was  given,  and  for  a few  minutes  it  looked  as  if 
they  were  going  to  drive  us.  There  were  eight  Italian 
seamen  out  foraging  unarmed,  and  five  of  them  were  cut 
down.  The  Boxers  were  armed  only  with  swords  and 
spears,  but  in  their  fanaticism  they  kept  coming  right 
forward,  to  be  mowed  down  by  the  rifles,  and  it  finally 
became  a regular  hand-to-hand  fight,  with  our  bayonets 


46 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


against  their  swords  and  spears.  There  were  some 
ghastly  sights  on  the  field  that  day,  as  they  simply  would 
not  stop  fighting  as  long  as  there  was  any  breath  in 
them.  I counted  162  on  the  field,  and  there  is  no  know- 
ing how  many  more  crawled  away  and  died  of  their 
wounds. 


SIEGE  TRAIN  ON  WAY  TO  PEKIN. 

That  same  afternoon  a few  of  the  cars  were  detached 
and,  with  a strong  guard,  took  Admiral  Seymour  and  his 
staff  about  ten  miles  further  up  the  road,  when  they  came 
to  a place  where  the  track  was  torn  up  and  the  grading 
embankment  leveled  for  a distance  of  two  or  three  miles. 
While  that  section  was  out  reconnoitering,  four  British 


admiral  Seymour's  relief  column 


47 


bluejackets  came  flying  up  the  road  on  a handcar  from 
Lo-fa  with  word  that  Fort  Endymion  was  being  attacked 
by  overwhelming  numbers.  You  may  know  that  it  did 
not  take  us  long  to  back  that  train  down  there  and  “sail 
in.”  We  had  a big  time  there  for  a few  minutes,  and 
the  Boxers  just  dropped  in  bunches.  We  counted  230 
dead  on  the  field  there  and,  aside  from  the  five  unarmed 
Italians  that  were  killed  in  the  morning,  we  had  no  losses 
that  day.  After  the  fight  we  ran  the  train  back  to  the 
water  tank  and  camped  there  again  that  night. 

The  next  day  (Friday,  June  15th)  we  tried  to  send  a 
train  back  to  Tientsin  under  Paymaster  Jewett  for  sup- 
plies, but  he  returned  late  in  the  afternoon,  reporting  the 
road  and  bridges  so  badly  destroyed  that  it  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  go  through.  There  was  a council  of 
war  that  night,  and  the  next  morning  we  started  to  back 
the  train  and  make  the  best  of  our  way  to  Tientsin. 

We  left  about  120  Germans,  strongly  fortified,  at  a sta- 
tion, with  an  engine  to  bring  them  in,  if  necessary.  Also 
at  Lo-fa  we  left  the  British  garrison  in  Fort  Endymion. 

I lemember  saying  while  passing  those  two  fortified  posts 
that  it  would  take  a horde  of  Chinamen  to  drive  them 
out,  and  yet,  late  that  evening,  they  were  all  driven  in 
and  joined  us  with  their  trains,  bringing  in  twenty-two 
wounded  and  leaving  six  dead  on  the  field.  They  were 
driven  in  by  Imperial  troops,  armed  with  the  best  of  mod- 
ern rifles. 

On  Sunday,  the  17th,  our  progress  was  very  slow,  the 
track  being  almost  a total  wreck.  We  were  at  a standstill 
all  day  Monday  beside  an  irreparable  bridge  over  the 
Pei-ho  River.  I could  begin  to  see  that  some  of  the 
officers  were  not  as  sure  of  the  outcome  as  they  would 


48 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


like  to  have  us  believe,  and  to-day  we  began  to  serve  out 
half  rations. 

As  the  bridge  was  irreparable,  it  was  decided  to  aban- 
don the  train.  So,  on  the  19th,  we  left  the  train,  putting 
the  wounded  into  boats,  with  the  intention  of  following 
the  course  of  the  river  to  Tientsin.  It  was  a long,  slow 
job  detraining  and  forming  the  column,  and  it  was  well 
along  in  the  afternoon  before  the  last  detachment  left 
the  cars.  We  only  went  about  three  or  four  miles  before 
going  into  camp  for  the  night,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  dark 
we  could  see  the  flames  of  the  deserted  train,  which  was 
being  destroyed  by  the  enemy.  We  began  our  march  at  5 
o’clock  the  next  morning,  and  about  5 130  I saw  a 
number  cf  red  and  white  banners  floating  among  some 
trees  a little  over  a mile  away.  I called  the  paymaster's 
attention  to  them,  and  just  as  he  was  looking  I heard,  for 
the  first  time  in  this  campaign,  the  whistle  of  rifle  bullets, 
and  the  fight  was  on — the  fight  of  our  lives  to  reach  Tien- 
tsin. 

Before  I go  further  it  might  be  well  to  give  some  idea 
of  the  formation  of  the  column.  There  were  but  four- 
teen United  States  marines,  who  had  been  sent  up  more 
as  a train  guard  for  a supply  train,  and  that  little  band 
of  fourteen  acted  as  a sort  of  advance  guard,  being  any- 
where from  a quarter  to  half  a mile  ahead  of  the  rest. 
Following  them  was  the  United  States  three-inch  field 
piece,  with  its  crew  of  about  forty  bluejackets  from  the 
U.  S.  S.  Newark,  and  they  were  supported  by  the  rest  of 
the  Newark  battalion.  Then  followed  the  British  marines 
and  the  British  bluejackets,  with  their  field  pieces  and 
machine  guns;  then  the  Germans,  the  Japanese,  the  Ital- 
ians, French  and  Austrians,  while  the  Russians  were  the 
rear  guard  to  defend  the  boats  containing  the  wounded. 


admiral  Seymour’s  relief  column  49 

The  first  shot  fired  after  we  left  the  train  was  fired  by 
the  U.  S.  three-inch  field  piece  at  a 2,000-yard  range,  and 
was  as  pretty  a shot  as  I have  ever  seen,  landing  a shrap- 
nel right  among  a crowd  at  the  foot  of  a flagstaff  over  a 
mile  away.  That  shot  rather  scattered  them,  and  we  ad- 
vanced slowly,  fighting  every  foot  of  the  way. 

The  grave  mounds  and  mud  fences  made  first-class 
cover  for  us,  and  we  fought  from  one  mud  fence  to  an- 
other, driving  the  Chinese  before  us.  They  made  a very 
determined  stand  in  a village,  and  it  took  us  hours  of 
hard  fighting  to  dislodge  them.  We  were  having  more  or 
less  killed  and  wounded  all  the  time,  which  made  our 
progress  correspondingly  slower.  We  advanced  into  a 
village  with  the  American  three-inch  and  Endymion’s 
machine  guns.  The  enemy  soon  had  range,  and  dropped 
shells  into  the  village,  some  falling  unpleasantly  close,  one 
in  particular  bursting  in  the  street  where  our  guns  were 
drawn  up,  but  without  hurting  any  one.  The  village  was 
cleared  with  much  difficulty,  and  then  the  enemy  retired 
and  took  up  their  position  in  the  next  village.  The  Ger- 
mans and  Russians  on  the  left  bank  began  their  advance 
at  10:15.  Many  of  the  enemy  threw  away  their  weapons 
and  ammunition,  of  which  a good  deal  was  taken  by  our 
men.  At  2 P.  M.  we  passed  through  Pei-tsang,  with  op- 
position all  the  time,  every  foot  being  disputed.  The 
fighting  during  the  whole  day  was  of  the  severest  de- 
scription, the  enemy  hanging  on  to  his  cover  with  the 
greatest  tenacity.  From  a prisoner  brought  in  we  learned 
that  Tientsin  was  exceedingly  hard  pressed,  having  had 
almost  continuous  fighting  for  the  past  five  days.  It  was 
very  evident  that  we  could  hope  for  no  help  from  that 
quarter.  The  greatest  matter  fgr  anxiety  was  the  am- 


5° 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


munition  supply.  If  finished,  the  column  would  soon  be 
finished  also. 

The  great  difficulty  our  men  experienced  on  Wednes- 
day was  the  inability  to  locate  the  whereabouts  of  the 
enemy’s  artillery,  owing  to  their  using  smokeless  powder. 
Fighting  lasted  continuously  from  8:15  A.  M.  until  dark- 
ness set  in.  At  7 45  a shell  burst  close  over  our  boats, 
wounding  severely  a German  seaman,  who  was  sitting  on 
the  deck  of  the  boat  containing  their  wounded. 

Thursday,  the  21st,  was  a repetition  of  the  continuous 
fighting  of  the  20th,  with  the  added  element  of  danger 
and  death  from  shells  and  shrapnel  that  were  being 
thrown  in  our  midst  bv  some  fort  out  of  sight  way  down 
the  river. 

In  the  afternoon  we  were  told  to  stand  by  for  a long 
march  all  night,  as  we  were  to  try  and  steal  by  the  fort  in 
the  darkness.  We  took  such  rest  as  we  could  till  about 
10:30  P.  M.,  when  we  started  silently  down  the  bank  of 
the  river  in  “column  of  twos.” 

It  was  pitch  dark,  and  I seemed  to  realize  the  gravity  of 
the  situation  more  than  ever  before.  We  had  been  hear- 
ing the  "boom,”  “boom”  of  heavy  guns  ever  since  we  had 
left  the  train.  It  was  by  no  means  certain  that  we  would 
find  Tien-tsin  in  the  hands  of  friends,  if  we  would  be 
able  to  reach  there. 

About  1 o’clock  in  the  morning  we  came  to  a village  sit- 
uated on  both  sides  of  the  river,  the  banks  of  which  at 
that  place  were  almost  perpendicular  and  about  twenty 
feet  high.  We  were  stealing  along  at  the  water’s  edge  in 
the  dense  blackness,  when,  without  a word  of  challenge 
or  warning,  volleys  were  fired  into  us,  or  at  least  in  our 
direction.  Mercifully,  there  were  none  of  the  men  in  the 
ranks  hit,  but  three  of  the  poor  wounded  fellows  in  the 


admiral  Seymour's  relief  column  51 

boats  were  killed.  The  only  way  I can  account  for  that 
is  that  those  in  charge  had  failed  to  unship  the  mast  of 
the  boat,  and  as  I looked  back  that  night  all  I could  see 
was  that  mast,  standing  out  clear  and  distinct  against  the 
sky  line. 

We  did  not  fire  one  shot  in  return,  but  the  British 
marines  charged  through  the  town  upon  their  flank  and 
took  it  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  We  marched  through 
that  town,  and  had  gone  but  a mile  or  so  when  day  began 


BRINGING  THE  WOUNDED  DOWN  THE  PEI-HO. 


to  break.  We  were  marching  along  the  top  of  a bank 
that  was  a sort  of  levee,  and  I could  just  see  across  the 
river,  about  sixty  yards  away,  a man  walking  up  and 
down.  I called  the  paymaster’s  attention  to  it,  and  he  at 
first  thought  it  was  one  of  the  Germans,  as  they  had  been 
on  that  side  of  the  river  most  of  the  way.  It  was  rapidly 
getting  lighter,  and  we  soon  saw  that  it  was  a Chinese 
officer  in  full  uniform,  while  about  every  five  feet  I could 
see  the  head  and  shoulders  of  Chinese  soldiers,  evidently 


52 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


in  rifle  pits  behind  the  ramparts,  and  a number  of  heavy 
juns  and  light  machine  ones,  with  their  gun  crews  stand- 
ing by  them. 

The  little  band  of  marines  and  about  twenty  U.  S. 
bluejackets  were  all  that  were  in  sight  at  the  time.  One  of 
the  men  saw  a Chinaman  with  a rifle  going  across  the 
bottom  land  back  of  us,  and  he  took  a shot  at  him.  The 
echo  of  the  shot  had  not  died  away  before  every  big  gun 
and  everything  else  they  had  was  turned  loose  on  us,  and 
a four-inch  Krupp  shell  plowed  into  the  ground  within 
six  feet  of  me,  but  fortunately  did  not  explode. 

All  hands  at  once  dropped  down  below  the  edge  of  the 
levee,  and  we  had  as  good  a fort  to  fight  from' as  the  en- 
emy had.  We  made  it  our  point  from  the  beginning  not 
to  let  them  serve  their  guns,  and  that  first  volley  was  the 
only  time  their  big  guns  were  used. 

We  were  not  more  than  sixty  to  seventy-five  yards  from 
them,  and  it  was  hot  work  for  about  an  hour.  The  man 
next  to  me  on  my  left  had  a ball  right  through  his  cap, 
which  gave  him  an  ugly  scalp  wound  that  bled  freely.  I 
bandaged  it  up  with  his  “first  aid,”  and  he  went  right  on 
fighting.  While  we  were  keeping  the  enemy  occupied  in 
this  way,  a party  of  British  marines  and  bluejackets, 
about  300  strong,  crossed  the  river  a mile  or  so  above  the 
fort,  and,  by  making  a long  flanking  march,  came  upon 
the  fort  from  the  rear,  where  it  was  not  guarded,  and  got 
inside.  Before  those  engaging  us  knew  what  happened 
to  them,  they  were  between  two  fires,  and  there  was  a 
regular  panic ; their  own  guns  were  turned  on  them,  and 
they  went  over  the  bank  like  rats.  Tbe  fort  was  known 
as  the  Se-ku  Arsenal,  and  covered  many  acres  of  ground. 
It  was  full  of  arms  and  ammunition,  much  of  it  of  the 
very  latest  pattern,  and  more  were  found  in  nearly  all  the 


admiral  Seymour’s  relief  column. 


S3 


houses  we  passed  through.  During  the  forenoon  it  was 
decided  to  hold  the  captured  forts,  and  send  in  a small 
force  of  marines,  with  Mr.  Currie  as  a guide,  to  endeavor 
to  enter  the  foreign  settlement,  starting  at  9 P.  M.  At 
about  1 P.  M.  the  enemy  attacked  the  captured  arsenal 
with  between  5,000  and  6,000  men.  Our  firing  line  was  re- 
inforced to  a strength  of  700.  A gun  belonging  to  the 
enemy,  placed  on  a railway  bridge  some  2,000  yards  away, 
caused  us  considerable  annoyance.  The  fighting  was  of 
the  most  desperate  character,  the  Chinese  troops  making 
several  most  determined  rushes,  which  were  gallantly  re- 
pelled by  our  men.  The  attack  was  finally  repulsed  by 
about  2:45  P-  M.,  and  our  men  chased  the  enemy  for 
some  distance  across  the  country,  burning  the  adjacent 
villages,  which  were  likely  to  afford  cover  to  them. 

After  allowing  us  to  spend  a quiet  night,  the  enemy  be- 
gan by  an  attack  on  us  at  4 :20  A.  M.  Our  casualties  were 
becoming  very  frequent,  and  it  was  perfectly  heart-rend- 
ing to  see  the  ghastly  procession  of  poor,  mangled  fellows 
led  and  carried  in.  Captain  Beyts,  R.  M.  A.,  and  two 
men  were  rushed  by  the  enemy  and  killed.  At  2 A.  M. 
the  marines  who  essayed  to  get  through  to  Tientsin,  re- 
turned, having  been  nearly  cut  off  by  strong  bodies  of  the 
enemy ; they  had  lost  four  killed  and  two  wounded. 

The  loss  of  the  Chinese  was  estimated  at  about  600 
during  the  taking  of  the  fort  and  about  400  more  when 
they  tried  to  regain  it. 

Now  that  we  had  possession  of  the  fort,  all  we  could  do 
was  to  hold  it  until  relieved,  as  we  could  not  hope  to  pass 
down  the  river  right  under  the  walls  of  Tientsin.  We 
sent  up  red  rockets  each  night  as  a signal  for  help,  hop- 
ing that  they  might  be  seen  in  Tientsin,  which  is  only 
about  eight  miles  away  in  a straight  line.  Our  provisions 


54 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


were  running  pretty  low,  but  we  found  plenty  of  rice  in 
the  fort  and  a garden  full  of  onions  and  turnips,  and 
the  boys  made  some  pretty  fair  stew,  some  out  of  canned 
beef  and  some  out  of  fresh  “mule.” 

We  took  the  fort  on  the  22d,  and  stayed  there  that  day 
and  the  23d  and  24th,  and  about  noon  of  the  25th  a relief 
party  of  2,000  arrived,  and  we  got  ready  to  begin  our 
final  stretch  to  Tientsin  and  comparative  security. 

We  all  crossed  the  river  and  camped  just  opposite  the 
Arsenal  all  night,  leaving  a party  over  there  to  prepare 
the  Arsenal  for  blowing  up,  which  was  done  just  after  we 
started  at  daylight. 

We  met  no  opposition  on  our  march  from  Se-Ku  to 
Tientsin,  arriving  there  about  10  o’clock  with  a heart  full 
of  unspeakable  thankfulness. 

Of  course  our  fighting  was  by  no  means  over  when  we 
reached  Tientsin,  as  we  had  still  a month  more  to  hear 
the  bullets  sing,  but  as  the  object  of  this  is  to  relate  the 
campaign  of  Admiral  Seymour’s  Column,  I will  leave  the 
rest  for  some  other  pen  to  describe. 


THE  SIEGE  OF  TIENTSIN. 


Chapter  V. 

Mr.  Gammon,  of  the  A.  B.  S.,  kept  a detailed  rec- 
ord of  the  Boxer  troubles,  and  is  well  qualified  to  speak 
on  this  subject.  We  give  below  extracts  of  his  diary  on 
the  siege,  which  is  very  interesting: 

“The  Empress  Dowager’s  antagonism  was  shown  when 
an  edict  was  issued  commanding  the  Chinese  troops  not 
to  fire  on  the  Boxers.  When  the  society  had  been  vir- 
tually placed  under  government  protection,  it  became  a 
power  over  the  whole  of  Northern  China.  Those  who  be- 
fore had  refused  to  join  in  the  movement,  were  now  com- 
pelled to  or  else  receive  the  disfavor  of  the  Government 
itself. 

“After  this  the  Boxers  gradually  worked  their  way 
toward  Tientsin,  and  during  the  first  week  in  June,  be- 
tween 40,000  and  50,000  of  them  were  stationed  around 
the  city. 

“During  the  second  week  in  June  the  foreign  residents 
were  expecting  to  be  attacked  at  any  moment,  and  on  the 
15th  day  of  the  same  month  their  fears  were  realized. 
Three  churches  in  the  city  were  burned  and  also  one  on 
the  outskirts  of  Tientsin.  Many  native  houses  were  also 
destroyed.  From  a commanding  position  the  foreigners 
watched  the  work  of  destruction.  During  the  night 


5<5 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


thousands  of  red  lanterns  could  be  seen  flitting  about  the 
streets.  A number  of  these  would  collect  together  and 
then  a small  light  would  grow  and  grow  until  the  sur- 
roundings would  be  lit  up  as  if  by  thousands  of  electric 
lights.  Again  and  again  this  spectacle  was  repeated,  until 
hundreds  of  native  houses  had  been  reduced  to  ashes. 
The  red  lanterns  were  carried  by  the  Boxers  to  identify 
them  from  those  whose  lives  they  were  seeking. 

“On  the  16th  of  June  news  was  received  in  Tientsin 
that  the  Taku  Forts  were  to  be  bombarded  by  the  allied 
fleets,  and  on  the  following  day  the  bombardment  began. 

“As  soon  as  the  Chinese  troops  received  word  that  the 
bombardment  had  begun,  they  immediately  opened  fire 
on  the  city.  The  telegraph,  telephone  and  railway  sys- 
tems had  been  destroyed,  leaving  the  residents  without 
any  means  of  communication  with  the  outside  world. 
The  shelling  of  the  city  continued  for  twelve  days,  until 
not  a house  stood  but  what  had  received  some  damage. 
There  were  but  700  Russian  troops  in  Tientsin,  and  it  was 
owing  to  their  bravery  that  the  lives  of  the  foreign  resi- 
dents were  saved.  At  the  railway  station  14,000  Chinese 
troops  were  held  at  bay  by  the  Russians.  Had  assist- 
ance not  arrived,  the  foreign  residents  intended  to  shoot 
all  the  women  and  children,  rather  than  allow  them  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Chinese.  A number  of  men 
had  even  been  detailed  to  perform  this  horrible  task. 

TIENTSIN  DEFENSES. 

It  was  a huge  territory  to  defend,  especially  with  only 
fourteen  hundred  troops,  but  many  of  the  street  ends  were 
barricaded  and  machine  guns  placed  in  the  most  com- 
manding positions,  so  that  the  enemy  must  suffer  heavy 
loss  even  if  successful  in  an  attack.  The  railway  station 


SIEGE  OF  TIENTSIN. 


57 


was  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  which  is  crossed  by 
a pontoon  bridge,  and  this  important  position  had  to  be 
held  at  any  cost,  since  the  possession  of  it  by  the  Chinese 
would  give  them  the  key  to  the  settlement  and  put  an 
end  to  the  possibility  of  using  the  line  for  transportation 
purposes. 

On  Friday  all  seemed  quiet,  but  the  Boxers  gathered 
with  the  darkness  and,  emboldened  by  the  deeds  of  the 
night  before,  came  in  a mass  to  the  railway  station,  plan- 
ning to  cross  the  pontoon  bridge,  loot  and  destroy  the 
houses,  and  massacre  the  inhabitants.  But,  as  had  been 
predicted,  they  were  easily  repulsed.  The  Cossacks,  who 
had  taken  charge  of  this  point  of  the  defense,  opened  fire 
upon  them  at  close  range  with  a terrific  rifle  fire  and  shots 
from  the  field  guns.  Poor,  deluded  men — armed  with 
banners  and  spears,  confident  of  the  spiritual  protection  in 
which  they  had  been  taught  to  believe — they  advanced 
boldly  to  the  muzzles  of  the  guns  that  were  mowing 
them  down  like  grass  before  the  scythe,  and  before  they 
were  undeceived  hundreds  lay  torn  and  bleeding  on  the 
ground.  In  their  retreat  they  carried  away  most  of  their 
dead  and  wounded,  only  about  a dozen  having  been  left. 

A TERRIBLE  NIGHT. 

Friday  night  was  wholly  spent  on  the  tower,  and  it 
was  a night  long  to  be  remembered.  With  field  glasses 
we  could  see  the  Boxers  gather  outside  the  city  walls,  and 
then  began  a terrible  scene  of  destruction.  Again  and 
again  they  would  gather  round  a group  of  buildings  and 
apply  their  torches,  and  soon  the  sky  was  one  red  glow 
from  the  thousands  of  burning  houses  and  shops  in  the 
suburbs.  Why  they  should  thus  destroy  the  property  of 
their  own  people  we  could  not  understand,  but  it  was 


58  CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 

probably  that  they  might  satisfy  their  passion  for  loot 
and  murder.  All  night  long  we  watched  this  terrible 
work,  expecting  them  to  turn  upon  the  settlement  at  any 
moment,  hut  it  was  not  until  the  first  streak  of  dawn  ap- 
peared, at  4 o’clock,  that  we  had  serious  cause  for 
alarm.  We  were  watching  the  movements  of  the  mob 
and  saw  them  suddenly  gather  in  one  mass,  wave  their 


GORDON  HALL,  WHERE  THE  LADIES  AND  CHILDREN  WERE 
KEPT  DURING  THE  TIENTSIN  SIEGE. 

torches  high  in  the  air,  hesitate  for  a moment,  then  witn 
a terrible  yell  they  made  a mad  rush  for  the  settlement. 
They  were  no  longer  human  beings,  they  were  blood- 
thirsty savages,  drunk  with  the  sight  of  fire  and  blood. 

' MISERIES  OF  GORDON  FI  ALL. 

All  this  time  the  forts  in  the  native  city  were  shelling 


SIEGE  OF  TIENTSIN. 


59 


us  frightfully,  with  shrapnel  and  segment,  and  these  were 
exploding  everywhere.  Of  the  great  mass  of  people  at 
the  Gordon  Hall  I know  but  little,  save  that  they  suffered 
every  possible  inconvenience.  Canned  meats  were 
brought  in  from  the  looted  shops  by  the  men,  but  there 
were  no  stoves,  so  that  nothing  could  be  cooked,  and  poor 
little  infants  had  to  be  fed  with  cold  milk.  In  hours  of 
quiet  the  ladies  slept  on  chairs,  on  the  platform,  on  the 
stairs,  in  the  halls,  and  on  the  floors  of  various  rooms, 
but  during  the  hours  of  shelling  they  were  packed  in  dark 
cellars,  where  they  passed  hours  of  misery.  A few  were 
hysterical,  and  one  or  two  nearly  died  from  heart  failure, 
but,  as  a rule,  they  bore  the  trouble  well. 

With  scanty  clothing  and  little  bedding,  with  none  of 
the  conveniences  of  home,  with  an  unbroken  diet  of  cold 
canned  meats  and  crackers  and  with  such  crowded  ac- 
commodations, it  is  easy  to  imagine  what  the  ladies  suf- 
fered during  the  many  days  they  were  confined  there. 

EFFECT  OF  SHELL  FIRE. 

At  Mr.  Cousins’  we  were  more  pleasantly  situated.  In 
the  godowns  were  hundreds  of  bags  of  rice,  so  that  our 
five  hundred  refugees  were  well  fed,  and  the  Methodist 
ladies  and  ourselves  had  the  use  of  the  house  and  office 
buildings.  For  the  ladies  there  was  a small  cellar,  about 
io  feet  by  io  feet,  and  6 feet  high,  around  the  sides  of 
which  were  piled  boxes  of  soap,  offering  absolute  protec- 
tion. It  may  seem  remarkable  that,  although  the  settle- 
ment was  bombarded  for  so  many  days,  only  five  citizens 
were  killed.  On  the  street  we  were  entirely  exposed,  and 
it  is  marvellous  that  “narrow  escapes”  could  go  on  in- 
definitely, day  after  day,  as  they  did. 


Go 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


A CRITICAL  TIME. 

The  beginning  of  the  bombardment  on  Sunday  was 
the  first  fruit  of  the  taking  of  the  Taku  forts,  and  on  Mon- 
day night  came  the  second,  when  General  Nieh’s  troops 
made  a determined  and  long  attack  on  the  railway  sta- 
tion, held  by  the  Cossacks,  who,  as  every  one  must  ac- 
knowledge, were  our  salvation.  In  the  terrific  battle 
which  followed  they  lost  no  less  than  one  hundred  killed, 
but  the  Chinese  lost  many  hundreds.  With  all  their  cour- 
age the  Cossacks  were  finally  forced  to  send  for  aid,  and 
were  reinforced  by  the  British,  with  whom  they  finally 
repulsed  the  Chinese.  It  was  a critical  time,  and  only  a 
dispensation  of  Providence  blinded  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese 
to  the  fact  that  an  attack  made  on  two  points  simultane- 
ously must  have  been  successful.  For  three  days  more 
our  fate  hung  in  the  balance,  with  all  the  favor  (save  the 
all-important  favor  of  God)  on  the  side  of  the  Chinese. 

The  Imperial  troops  numbered  at  least  five  thousand 
and  we  knew  that  were  they  to  attack  from  the  open  plain, 
or  get  over  the  river  in  a body,  assisted  by  the  innumera- 
ble Boxers,  we  could  not  stand  against  them.  But  hap- 
pily they  did  neither,  why,  we  do  not  know.  They  en- 
trenched themselves  in  a long  line  across  the  river  and 
poured  a perfect  rain  of  bullets  into  the  settlement.  So 
thick  were  they  that  one  might  pick  up  five  hundred  of 
these  little  pellets  in  a space  of  twenty  yards  on  any 
street.  Many  people  received  wounds  from  these  stray 
bullets  and  in  our  own  party  one  refugee  was  killed  and 
two  were  wounded,  and  Mr.  Ccusins  also  received  a 
wound  in  the  leg.  One  of  the  shrapnel  burst  in  the  go- 
down,  where  three  hundred  refugees  were  sitting,  killing 
one  instantly  and  wounding  another.  Had  this  shell 
burst  lower  down,  at  least  fifty  would  have  been  killed. 


SIEGE  OF  TIENTSIN. 


61 


THE  SNIPING. 

But  in  spite  of  hundreds  of  bursting  shells  and  showers 
of  stray  bullets,  our  greatest  danger  came  from  hidden 
riflemen,  who  seemed  to  be  in  a thousand  different  build- 
ings in  the  settlement,  especially  on  the  godowns.  From 
many  points  we  were  repeatedly  shot  at  as  we  walked 
the  streets  on  duty,  and  only  the  fact  that  these  Boxer 
sympathizers  were  untrained  in  the  use  of  arms  prevented 
an  immense  loss  of  life  among  us. 

It  was  trying  enough  to  have  shell  shrieking  and  burst- 
ing about  us  and  bullets  straying  in  showers  into  our 
midst,  but  to  feel  that  from  windows  and  roofs  in  every 
part  of  the  settlement  we  were  being  repeatedly  and  in- 
dividually shot  at  as  we  walked  the  streets,  was  very  wear- 
ing. The  defense  lines  were  skirmishing  all  the  time, 
and  wounded  men  began  to  fill  the  houses  set  aside  as 
hospitals,  which  gave  employment  to  our  ladies,  for 
thousands  of  bandages  had  to  be  cut  and  rolled. 

THE  NATIVE  CHRISTIANS. 

And  here,  too,  let  me  record  the  excellent  work  done 
by  the  native  Christian  refugees  undei  our  charge.  Their 
first  work  was  to  barricade  tire  whole  settlement,  especial- 
ly the  line  of  water  front,  about  two  miles,  which  had  to 
be  held  by  our  men  and  had  to  be  open  to  a deadly  fire 
from  the  enemy  on  the  opposite  bank.  For  this  purpose 
huge  bales  of  hides,  camel’s  wool,  etc.,  were  used,  with 
which  the  godowns  were  fortunately  stocked,  and  the 
thousands  of  bales  necessary  were  carted  from  the  go- 
downs  and  piled  into  position  by  our  refugee  preachers, 
teachers  and  helpers,  who  were  unaccustomed  to  heavy 
labor  and  who  did  their  work  while  under  fire,  freely  of- 
fering their  services,  working  day  and  night  until  the 


62 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


stupendous  task  was  completed,  with  blistered  hands  and 
aching  backs.  Their  efforts  saved  the  lives  of  many  sol- 
diers, besides  placing  the  settlement  in  a much  more  se- 
cure position.  They  carried  water,  ammunition  and  pro- 
visions ; they  dug  graves,  performed  every  kind  of  heavy 
labor,  and  more  than  earned  their  protection  as  well  as 
unstinted  praise.  Two  of  them  volunteered  to  attempt 
passing  the  enemy’s  lines  to  carry  news  of  our  serious 
situation  to  the  admirals  at  Taku,  and  one  got  back  after 
having  been  thrown  in  the  river  for  dead.  Even  when 
shells  passed  so  close  to  our  heads  as  to  barely  graze  the 
wall  by  our  side,  and  when  bullets  sang  all  around  us, 
these  country  refugees  did  not  display  any  unusual  alarm, 
but  followed  our  instructions  calmly.  Men  with  no  re- 
gard for  mission  work,  and  who  had  contempt  for  the 
Chinese,  had  to  admit  that  these  proved  themselves  true 
in  every  particular,  and  we  could  not  have  held  out  with- 
out them. 

The  situation  got  so  bad  that  Mr.  Seeberg  and  Mr. 
James  Watts,  volunteered  to  carry  dispatches  to  the  Taku 
fort  asking  for  reinforcements.  They  got  through  safe- 
ly and  a relief  party  reached  here  in  time  to  save  us.” 


RELIEF  OF  TIENTSIN  AND  TAKING  OF  THE 
NATIVE  CITY. 


Chapter  VI. 

From  the  time  the  relief  party  reached  Tientsin,  on 
June  23  until  July  8 nothing  of  any  great  importance  oc- 
curred. The  Chinese  kept  up  a slow  fire  from  time  to 
time  and  sniping  was  always  the  order  of  the  day.  Our 
correspondent,  therefore,  opens  his  diary  again  and  we 
will  give  you  his  account  as  he  saw  and  witnessed  the 
bombardment  and  taking  of  the  Native  City  of  Tientsin. 

NARROW  ESCAPES. 

On  the  8th,  9th  and  10th  the  Chinese  have  given  us 
some,  sharp  times  of  shelling.  Their  marksmen  did  so 
well  that  general  admiration  would  have  been  expressed 
if  only  they  had  been  shelling  somebody  else. 

Many  wonderful  escapes  are  related.  One  old  preacher 
of  the  American  Board,  who  with  his  family  had  occu- 
pied a room  for  some  weeks,  was  persuaded  to  change 
his  quarters.  Half  an  hour  after,  a shell  came  into  that 
very  room  and  burst  into  some  hundred  fragments.  A 
mother  with  her  children  decided  to  leave  the  nursery  for 
a while;  they  had  just  gone  below  when  the  room  was 
wrecked. 

CUNNING  CHINESE. 

An  attempt  was  made  by  the  Chinese  in  large  force  to 
cut  our  communications  again.  They  were  discovered 


64 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


working  around  by  the  West  Arsenal,  and  got  as  far  as 
the  race  course.  The  Japanese,  British  and  Germans, 
however,  were  soon  in  the  open  against  them.  By  some 
clever  manoeuvring  they  were  completely  at  the  mercy  of 
our  men  and  were  soon  in  full  flight,  having  lost  six  guns 
and  about  400  killed.  The  Japanese  did  splendidly,  and 
with  their  cavalry  and  field  guns  cut  off  not  a few. 


THE  NATIVE  CITY  OF  TIENTSIN. 


Friday,  July  13. 

The  secret  has  for  once  been  kept.  The  attack  by  all 
the  forces  on  the  native  city  began  this  morning.  Our 
guns  opened  fire  at  5 A.  M.  with  astounding  effect  on  the 
atmosphere.  The  Chinese  are  punishing  us  back,  but  as 
their  efforts  are  limited  to  40  and  85  millimetres,  the  de- 
moralization is  small  compared  to  that  we  are  inflicting. 


RELIEF  OF  TIENTSIN. 


65 


At  7 A.  M.  rifle  firing  began  to  displace  the  shell,  and  the 
South  Gate  was  the  objective  of  our  attack,  which  was 
largely  in  the  hands  of  the  Americans  and  French. 

July  14. 

When  I closed  my  notes  of  yesterday  I referred  to  the 
attack  on  the  native  city  then  going  on.  The  allies 
(American,  British,  French  and  Japanese)  were  to  make 
a combined  attack  on  the  old  walled  city  from  the  south 
and  southwest.  This  was  done,  but  done  incompletely, 
and  with  very  heavy  loss.  Tientsin  emphasizes  the  les- 
sons of  South  Africa  that  modern  arms  of  precision  tend 
to  equate  soldiers  unequal  in  morale ; a Chinaman  with  a 
gun  at  two  miles,  or  a rifle  at  one,  is  almost  as  good  a man 
as  a European,  and  if  his  weapons  are  slightly  better,  he 
is  quite  as  good  a man.  The  Chinese  still  wishes  to  run 
and  does  run  when  the  risk  is  great,  but  as  long  as  the 
gap  is  big  enough  to  give  him  a good  start  in  the  race  for 
safety,  he  stands  up  and  shoots  commendably  straight. 

The  Russians  did  their  part  with  success,  but  for  once 
they  did  not  meet  the  chief  piece  dc  resistance.  They 
captured  eight  60-millimetre  Krupp  field  pieces,  and  drove 
the  Chinese  clear  away  from  the  Canal  and  the  eastern 
suburbs  of  the  city;  they  had' few  casualties.  The  sole 
friendly  criticism  one  has  to  offer  on  their  attack  is  that 
they  did  not  keep  the  other  allies  informed  as  to  their 
movements. 

The  Japanese  were  in  the  centre  to  go  straight  for  the 
South  Gate  (one  mile  distant)  ; the  Americans  were  to  be 
on  their  right,  but  by  some  misunderstanding  (of  doubt- 
ful origin)  went  to  the  left,  and  got  themselves  landed  in 
a pent-house.  The  British  were  the  extreme  left,  and  the 
French  the  extreme  right. 

A Japanese  officer  sent  a message  to  General  Dorward 


66 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


that  he  was  in  the  city,  ‘would  the  big  battery  cease  fir- 
ing?’ This  was  a mistake,  but  all  the  same  the  battery 
ceased  at  the  very  moment  it  was  dealing  out  death  to 
the  enemy.  The  Japanese  were  not  in  the  city,  but  near 
it  (200  to  500  yards).  As  the  line  advanced,  all  available 
cover  was  seized,  but  the  Chinese  were  in  great  force  on 
the  old  wall  and  behind  loopholes,  and  a hundred  rifles 
answered  instantaneous  exposure.  About  11  A.  M.  they 
had  advanced  to  within  500  yards  of  the  wall,  and  then 
found  themselves  in  a fix ; they  could  not  go  on,  they 
could  not  come  back.  The  consequences  were  that  they 
had  to  rest  there  all  day,  under  fair  cover  (a  mud  vil- 
lage), in  a heat  of  from  96°  to  ioo°  Fahrenheit.  Des- 
perate efforts  were  made  to  bring  off  the  wounded,  of 
whom  there  were  over  500.  Blood  here  showed  itself 
thicker  than  water.  The  British  lost  twenty-five  men  in 
bringing  oft  the  American  wounded  and  in  taking  up  am- 
munition, of  which  all  arms  ran  out.  The  French  were 
very  tenacious  and  lost  10  per  cent.,  140  out  of  1,400 
men. 

The  history  of  the  rest  of  the  day  was  the  arrival  of 
wounded,  and  the  taking  out  of  supplies ; the  troops  re- 
mained under  cover.  We  had  a quiet  night,  though  at 
6 P.  M.  the  Shui-sze-ying  sent  a few  hissing  brutes  into 
the  French  concession,  and  three  at  our  battery.  The  lat- 
ter instantly  took  up  the  challenge  and  promptly  enforced 
silence. 

The  allies  all  got  into  the  city  early  in  the  morning, 
with  little  opposition,  four  Japanese  wounded  on  the  way 
in,  and  the  Japanese,  French  and  American  flags  were 
clearly  seen  from  the  settlement  on  the  walls  and  high 
buildings. 

The  capture  of  the  city  must  have  been  unexpected, 


i.  the  emperor  kwang-hsu  ( from  an  old  photograph) . 

2.  THE  EMPRESS.  3 AND  4.  LI-HUNG-CHANG  AND 
PRINCE  CHING,  THE  PEACE  ENVOYS.  5.  “BOXERS” 
BEFORE  THE  COURT  TO  RECEIVE  THEIR  VERDICT. 


68 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


for  large  quantities  of  sycee  were  found  lying  exposed  in 
many  of  the  houses  and  Iiongs  (business  houses).  Valu- 
able silks,  articles  of  clothing,  curios,  etc.,  were  brought 
away  in  large  quantities. 

The  wounded  numbered  600,  i.  c.,  the  casualties  were 
about  10  per  cent.  The  walled  city  is  held  by  four  par- 
ties of  the  troops,  numbering  well  over  one  thousand. 
The  heat  was  appalling  all  the  time,  ranging  from  96°  to 
100°,  and  often  topping  the  century.  In  proportion  to 
their  number  the  American  troops  seem  to  have  suffered 
most,  for  out  of  about  900'  men  engaged,  their  casualties 
amounted  to  over  a hundred,  among  them  brave  Colonel 
Liscumb,  who  had  only  arrived  from  Manila  the  day 
before.  Their  hospital,  packed  upstairs  and  down,  was 
a terrible  sight  on  the  morning  of  the  next  day. 

The  question  at  that  time  was  loot ; in  one  case  a raid- 
ing syndicate  of  men  had  a superb  spoil  of  gold  bars  and 
watches. 

Sycee  (silver)  which  was  thrown  down  bv  fugitives  in 
their  haste  to  quit  the  doomed  place  could  be  picked  up 
all  round,  and  terror  struck  natives  who  remain  on  the 
scene  never  show  themselves  out  on  the  street.  It  will  be 
years  before  Tientsin  can-rebuild  and  regain  her  old  posi- 
tion. 


BOMBARDMENT  OF  THE  TAKU  FORTS. 


Chapter  VII. 


An  officer  of  the  S.  S.  Hsingfung,  who  has  arrived, 
gave  ns  an  interesting  account  of  the  bombardment  of  the 
forts ; he  said  : 

“We  were  right  in  the  thick  of  the  fight,  the  shot  and 
shell  just  clearing  our  awning  boom. 

There  were  no  big  ships  in  the  action,  only  gunboats  or 
small  craft,  comprising  three  Russian,  one  English,  one 
French  and  one  German. 

THE  DAMAGE  TO  THE  VESSELS. 

One  of  the  Russians  got  a shot  in  her  bow  and  went 
aground  in  shallow  water.  She  was  hit  five  times  in  all, 
and  another  of  the  Russians  was  hit  three  times.  The 
Algerine,  the  British  vessel,  sustained  no  serious  damage 
and  took  only  two  shots  through  her  stokehold  ventilators. 
The  heavy  loss  of  the  Russians  is  accounted  for  by  the 
fact  that  a shot  or  shell  fell  in  the  magazine,  causing  an 
explosion  of  ammunition. 

AN  ULTIMATUM  SENT. 

An  ultimatum  had  been  sent  ashore  to  the  effect  that 
if  the  Boxers  were  not  checked  other  steps  would  have 
to  be  taken.  Then  some  of  the  naval  officers  went  to  see 


;o 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


the  commander  at  12  o’clock  on  Saturday  night,  to  ask 
what  he  intended  doing.  The  general  replied  that 

HE  MEANT  TO  FIGHT, 

0 

and  a bombardment  by  the  fleet  was  arranged  for  at  2 
o’clock  that  morning.  The  Chinese,  however,  began  fir- 
ing a little  before  1 a.  m.,  using  the  searchlight.  The  U. 
S.  S.  Monocacy  had  been  up  river  on  patrol  work,  and  as 
she  came  down  men  on  shore  near  the  wharves  opened 
fire  on  her  with  rifles,  but  they  were  soon  silenced. 

The  Russian  vessel  that  was  hit  five  times  had  four 
holes  alone  in  one  side,  three  of  them  being  very  near  her 
water  line. 

THE  ILTIS  LATE  AT  THE  FIGHT. 

The  German  cruiser  litis  came  down  the  river  from 
Tang-ku  an  hour  after  the  firing  began,  when  she  opened 
and  was  followed  twenty  minutes  later  by  the  French 
gunboat  Lion. 

On  Monday  the  Japanese  were  busy  “sniping’’  all  Chi- 
nese in  the  vicinity  of  the  forts.  A Russian  torpedo  boat 
went  up  the  river  and  the  people  in  one  of  the  villages 
opened  fire  on  her  with  rifles.  She  replied  with  her  ma- 
chine guns  and  soon  cleared  the  place  out. 

BRITISH  USE  enemy’s  GUNS. 

After  taking  the  North  fort,  the  British  turned  their 
guns  on  the  other  fort.  At  daylight  the  British  were 
ashore  with  their  rifles,  picking  off  the  Chinese  gunners 
from  a low  wall  outside  the  moat  and  then,  with  the  Japa- 
nese, they  rushed  in  over  the  bridge  across  the  moat  and 
took  the  place.  The  ships  then  steamed  down  opposite 
South  fort,  and  it  was  here  the  Btis  sustained  her  losses. 


BOMBARDMENT  OF  THE  TAKU  FORTS.  7l 

Besides  the  litis  and  the  Algerine,  there  were  engaged 
here  the  two  Russians  and  the  Frenchman. 

The  Algerine  ceased  fire  for  a time  just  before  daylight 
and  the  lookers  on  feared  she  was  out  of  action.  With 
the  dawn,  however,  she  was  soon  as  busy  as  ever,  her 
crew  making  fine  practice.  The  last  shot  was  fired  at 
6:45  A.  M.,  according  to  the  Poo-chi’s  time. 

Very  few  guns  in  the  fort  appeared  to  be  seriously 
damaged.  The  weapons  used  were  all  the  late-pattern 
guns,  the  heavy  muzzle-loaders  being  found  with  their 
tompions  still  in  their  throats. 

The  fighting  united  forces  were  represented  by  three 
Russian  ships,  one  Japanese,  one  German  (the  litis)  and 
one  English  (the  Algerine).  The  latter  was  directly  un- 
der the  forts  and  did  magnificent  work  and  markmanship, 
and  escaped  with  slight  damage.  The  litis  fared  worse ; 
a lieutenant  was  blown  to  pieces  and  the  commander  was 
wounded,  but  the  greater  punishment  was  meted  out  to  a 
Russian  gunboat,  which  received  a shell  in  the  boiler 
room,  and  many  were  killed.  She  drifted  ashore,  disabled 
in  one  sense,  but  not  in  another,  for  she  poured  an  ex- 
tremely hot  fire  into  the  forts  and  finally  succeeded  in 
blowing  up  the  magazine. 

The  concussion  was  terrific  and  will  be  ever  memora- 
ble to  those  that  heard  it.  The  Chinese  fought  with  great 
pluck  and  pertinacity,  and  for  six  hours  there  was  no  re- 
laxation of  the  furore.  The  Japanese  landed  a force  and 
attacked  the  enemy  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  and  finally 
took  the  forts  with  a gallant  charge.  The  pity  is  their 
captain  lost  his  life  leading  the  troops. 

The  forces  of  the  other  countries  followed  the  Japa- 
nese, and  thus  the  Northern  and  the  Western  forts 
were  occupied  by  the  Japanese,  the  Right  and  the  Left 


72 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


forts  by  the  other  forces.  At  7 A.  M.  the  fight  was  over, 
when  the  British  took  charge  of  the  Western  fort,  and 
the  Japanese  left  the  forts  to  guard  the  station.  The 
railway  track  going  to  Tientsin  did  not  appear  to  have 
been  wrecked,  but  as  the  locomotive  had  been  damaged, 
the  crew  of  the  Atago  were  told  off  to  repair  it. 

A SCENE  OF  CARNAGE 

The  forts  do  not  show  much  damage  from  the  outside, 
but  on  entering  them  a very  vivid  idea  is  gained  as  to  the 
effect  of  modern  shell  fire.  The  place  was  wrecked,  and 
mutilated  men  and  horses  were  thickly  strewn  over  the 
blood-stained  ground. 

A number  of  foreign  houses  ashore  suffered  severely, 
Mr.  Limberg's  being  entirely  destroyed.  One  shell  went 
right  through  one  of  the  Tang-ku  hotels.  The  shell  that 
smashed  Mr.  Limberg’s  house  also  killed  three  Chinese. 
Everything  soon  quieted  down  and  the  different  flags  are 
now  flying  from  the  forts.” 


MURDER  OF  THE  JAPANESE  SECRETARY  AND 
GERMAN  MINISTER. 


Chapter  VIII. 

On  June  nth  occurred  the  murder  of  the  Japanese 
Chancellor,  Sugiyama,  by  the  Boxers,  and  Tung  Fu- 
hsiang’s  Kansu  troops.  The  Chancellor  attempted  to 
leave  Peking  by  the  Yung-ting  gate  in  order  to  meet  Ad- 
miral Seymour’s  relief  force,  which  was  on  its  way  to  the 
capital  from  Tientsin,  and  which  was  apparently  expected 
to  reach  Peking  that  day.  Sugiyama  rode  in  a cart  with 
a broad  red  band  round  the  body,  denoting  that  the  oc- 
cupant was  of,  at  least,  the  second  rank.  When  he  ar- 
rived at  the  Yung-ting  gate  he  was  accosted  by  a number 
of  Tung  Fu-hsiang’s  men  who  were  guarding  it.  It 
seemed  that  Prince  Tuan  had  that  day  given  secret  orders 
that  no  foreigner  was  to  be  allowed  either  to  leave  the  city 
or  enter  it.  Pie  was  therefore  stopped  and  asked  who  he 
was.  Sugiyama  told  them  that  he  was  a member  of  the 
Japanese  legation.  “Are  you  the  Japanese  minister?" 
“No,  I am  only  a chancellor  of  the  legation.”  “Then 
what  right  have  you,  a petty  officer  like  that,  to  ride  in 
such  a high  official’s  cart?”  So  they  pulled  him  out  of 
his  cart  and  began  to  mob  the  unlucky  Chancellor.  Sugi- 
yama then  demanded  to  be  brought  before  General  Tung 


the  empress  dowager. 

( From  a recent  photograph.) 


MURDER  OF  THE  GERMAN  MINISTER. 


75 


Fu-hsiang.  “What!  \ou  to  speak  to  our  Great  Gen 
eral ! (Ta  Shuei.)  Why,  you  are  too  insignificant  to 
have  such  an  honor!”  At  last,  however,  a red-buttoned 
Kansu  officer  appeared  on  the  scene,  to  whom  Sugiyama 
appealed  for  help.  Instead  of  doing  so  the  ruffian  merely 
ordered  the  Japanese  Chancellor's  head  to  be  struck  off  as 
a sacrifice  to  their  war  banner,  and  stuck  near  the  gate, 
“for  trying  to  break  out  of  Peking.”  Sugiyama  was  the 
first  foreigner  murdered  inside  Peking. 

The  great  mass  of  the  population  of  Peking  were  great- 
ly alarmed  at  these  blood-thirsty  proceedings,  and  all 
were  expecting  that  the  Empress  Dowager  would  show 
some  disapproval  of  the  murder  of  the  Japanese  Chan- 
cellor, belonging  to  a friendly  State,  and  the  member  of 
an  Embassy  ; but  the  Manchus,  one  and  all,  were  jubilant 
when  they  heard  of  the  murder.  Finally  the  official  seal 
of  approval  from  the  highest  quarter  for  this  dastardly 
murder  was  made  by  Prince  Tuan,  who,  when  he  met 
General  Tung  Fu-hsiang  the  next  morning,  slapped  the 
latter  on  the  back  and  raising  his  right  thumb  called  out 
"Hao”  (good!)  The  raising  of  the  thumb  denotes  that 
the  person  addressed  is  a “first-class  hero.” 

We  should  here  mention  that  during  the  whole  of  the 
time  whilst  the  Chinese  party  were  arguing  with  the 
Manchus  in  this  to  be  ever  notable  Grand  Council,  His 
Majesty  the  Emperor  maintained  a moody  and  even  tear- 
ful silence;  and  what  could  he  do?  Bereft  of  power  and 
influence,  despised  of  the  Manchus,  silence  was  doubtless 
his  only  way  of  showing  passive  dissent  of  his  Manchu 
nobles’  and  ministers’  policy.  But  when  at  last  it  ap- 
peared to  His  Majesty  that  the  warlike  policy  of  his  coun- 
trymen was  about  to  prevail,  His  Majesty  could  no  longer 
contain  himself,  and  turned  impulsively  to  the  Empress 


y6  CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 

Dowager,  who  sat  a foot  or  so  in  front  on  his  left,  and 
begged  her  to  reconsider  her  decision  to  fight  all  foreign 
nations,  saying  that  the  movement  once  inaugurated  by 
the  Government  would  make  peace  an  impossibility  in  the 
future  and  destruction  of  the  country  imminent.  His 
Majesty  was  going  on  to  say  something  more,  but  seemed 
to  pull  himself  suddenly  up,  for,  instead  of  listening  to 
His  Majesty,  as  court  etiquette  required,  the  Empress 
Dowager  openly  affronted  the  Emperor  by  ignoring  his 
words  and  turning  her  back  on  His  Majesty.  This  was 
the  last  stroke  on  the  Chinese  party,  whose  words  were 
simply  drowned  in  the  uproar  of  the  Manchus,  who 
unanimously  shouted  for  war  to  the  knife,  and  who  looked 
with  deep  hate  on  their  Chinese  colleagues,  whom  they 
now  considered  as  enemies  and  traitors  to  their  cause. 

At  this  time  the  German  Minister  decided  he  would 
visit  the  Tsung-li  Yamen.  The  ministers  of  the  Yamen 
were  dumfounded  when  they  received  the  note  and  wrote 
back  begging  him  to  forego  his  visit  until  affairs  became 
more  settled,  as  the  crisis  at  the  moment  was  in  a most 
dangerous  pitch  and  the  streets  and  alleys  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  legations  were  crowded  with  wild  and  savage 
troops  over  whom  the  Tsung-li  Yamen  had  not  the  least 
control,  but  the  German  Minister  determined  to  visit  the 
Yamen,  and  was  accordingly  murdered  en  route  by  the 
Kansu  troops  and  some  of  Yung  Lu’s  Manchu  troops  of 
the  Wu-wei  Corps.  This  occurred  on  the  20th  of  June. 
After  this,  pandemonium  broke  loose  and  all  Peking 
seemed  to  be  in  confusion.  Panic  reigned  everywhere 
amongst  the  most  law-abiding  of  the  Chinese  inhabitants. 

The  murder  of  the  German  Minister  opened  the  eyes  of 
the  Imperial  Court.  They  saw  that  things  were  now  in 
danger  of  being  beyond  recall  and  the  more  reckless 


MURDER  OF  THE  GERMAN  MINISTER. 


77 


joined  Prince  Tuan  and  Kang  Yi  in  pressing  the  Em- 
press Dowager  to  declare  war  and  bring  inside  Peking 
all  Yung  Lu’s  troops,  who  were  armed  with  modern  fire- 
arms, machine  and  field  guns,  as  from  what  had  been  ex- 
perienced before  by  the  Boxers  and  Kansu  men  in  their 
attacks  on  the  legations,  swords,  spears  and  rifles  were 


BARON  VON  KETTELER. 

useless  to  destroy  the  foreign  quarters.  The  most  promi- 
nent and  active  of  the  Manchu  party  presented  themselves 
at  the  Palace,  therefore,  on  the  20th  of  June,  the  day  of 
the  murder,  and  got  the  Empress  Dowager  to  issue  a de- 
cree to  Yung  L11,  as  Generalissimo  of  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  North,  commanding  him  to  bring  in  his  army  into 


78 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


Peking  and  formally  attack  the  legations,  destroy  them, 
and  then  leave  for  Tientsin,  to  destroy  the  foreigners 
there  and  so  on  until  all  were  driven  into  the  sea. 

The  late  German  Minister,  who  was  murdered  by  the 
Chinese  on  the  20th  of  June,  was  comparatively  a young 
man.  Baron  Clemens  August  von  Kettler  was  born  at 
Potsdam  on  the  22d  of  November.  He  entered  the  Diplo- 
matic Service  and  passed  a special  examination  for  Chi- 
nese. In  the  eighties  he  was  appointed  interpreter  to  the 
German  consulate  at  Canton.  During  the  Chinese  ris- 
ing in  1888,  when  the  Foreign  settlement  at  Canton  was 
attacked,  Baron  von  Ketteler  distinguished  himself  by  the 
energy  with  which,  with  the  assistance  of  a few  German 
residents,  he  defended  a house  in  which  the  women  and 
children  had  sought  refuge.  It  was  largely  due  to  him 
that  the  rioters  were  expelled  from  the  settlement.  His 
services  on  this  occasion  were  recognized  by  the  Emperor 
William  I.,  who  conferred  on  him  the  fourth  class  of  the 
Red  Eagle  Order.  After  filling  various  other  posts  in 
the  diplomatic  service,  Baron  von  Ketteler  was  appointed 
German  Minister  to  Mexico  in  1896.  Last  year,  on  the 
retirement  of  Baron  von  Hevking,  who  had  successfully 
carried  through  the  Kiao-Cheo  negotiations,  Baron  von 
Ketteler  was  appointed  to  succeed  him.  He  was  very 
popular  in  European  society  in  Peking,  and,  owing  to  his 
intimate  knowledge  of  Chinese,  frequently  represented 
the  legations  in  confidential  communications  with  the 
Tsung-li  Yamen.  It  was  on  such  a mission  as  this  that 
he  was  engaged  when  he  met  his  death.  Baron  von  Ket- 
teler married  Miss  Maud  Ledyard,  an  American  lady,  at 
Detroit,  in  1897. 


THE  SIEGE  OF  PEKING. 


Chapter  IX. 

Next  to  the  particulars  of  the  fall  of  Peking,  the  in- 
formation most  eagerly  sought  after,  just  now,  by  the 
reading  public  is  probably  the  story  of  the  gallant  defense 
in  which  a handful  of  foreigners,  as  compared  with  the 
surrounding  myriads  of  the  Chinese,  so  bravely  with- 
stood a siege  of  nine  long,  dreary  and  desperate  weeks  in 
the  midst  of  privations  and  ill-suppressed  despair  and 
were  finally  rescued,  as  if  brought  back  from  death  to  life. 
It  will,  therefore,  be  with  much  interest  that  a diary  of 
Peking  during  the  siege  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  Gilbert 
Reid,  D.  D.,  taken  from  the  “Shanghai  Mercury,”  will  be 
read. 

PEKING  ALARMED. 

“The  tide  of  fury  which  swept  up  higher  and  higher 
to  the  capital  from  the  Boxers’  movement  alarmed  us  all 
by  June  8th.  The  American  missionaries  consulted  and 
decided  to  concentrate  at  the  large  and  suitable  quarters 
of  the  American  Methodist  Mission. 

The  concentration  of  the  missionaries  at  one  place 
meant  the  desertion  of  all  their  houses  and  work.  The 
converts  of  the  London  Mission  not  being  granted  en- 
trance to  the  British  Legation,  also  went  to  the  same  ren- 


8o 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


dezvous,  and  two  or  three  of  the  English  missionaries 
were  there  to  help.  There  were  sixty-six  men,  women 
and  children,  and  over  600  natives.  Twenty  of  the 
American  guards  were  sent  over  to  give  protection  to 
them. 

The  Catholics  were  mostly  gathered  at  the  North 
Cathedral.  Refugees  came  in  from  the  city  and  country, 
until  there  were  nearly  2,000  of  them.  There  were  there 
also  a dozen  fathers,  including  Mgr.  Favier,  and  about 
the  same  number  of  sisters.  Thirty  of  the  French  guards 
and  ten  of  the  Italians  were  sent  to  protect  them. 

THE  WORK  OF  DESTRUCTION. 

The  desertion  of  so  much  property  instigated  the  Box- 
ers to  attack,  but  there  was  no  other  course  open,  so  long 
as  the  officials  and  the  throne  seemed  indisposed  to  sup- 
press the  growing  disturbance. 

WAR  DECLARED. 

On  June  19th  the  Tsung-li-Yamen  handed  passports  to 
all  the  foreign  ministers,  and  gave  them  one  day’s  limit 
to  leave  Peking.  By  an  edict  of  June  20th  China  de- 
clared war.  Here  then  was  the  beginning  of  the  trouble 
for  us. 

THE  MURDER  OF  BARON  VON  KETTELER. 

Baron  von  Ketteler,  the  German  Minister,  had  written 
the  night  before  to  the  Yamen,  asking  for  audience  with 
the  two  princes,  Ching  and  Tuan,  at  8 o’clock  the  next 
morning,  and  saying  he  would  call  at  that  hour.  The 
Minister,  with  his  secretary,  M.  Cordes,  proceeded  at  the 
time  mentioned  in  their  sedan  chairs  on  a mission  of  real 
friendliness,  to  try  to  warn  China  of  the  peril  of  the 


BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  PEKIN. 


8 2 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


policy  which  had  been  entered  upon,  and  at  least  secure 
proper  escort.  They  left  their  German  guard  behind  to 
excite  no  needless  animosity.  On  their  way  up  the  main 
street,  perhaps  twenty  minutes  from  their  legation,  a mili- 
tary officer,  with  button  and  feather  on  his  hat,  raised  his 
rifle  and  aimed  directly  at  the  Minister,  killing  him  in- 
stantly. The  secretary  was  just  rising  from  his  seat, 
when  he  was  shot,  but  not  fatally.  He  managed  to  get 
out  of  his  chair  and  without  further  accident,  but  bleed- 
ing profusely,  wended  his  way,  in  a roundabout  course, 
to  the  American  Mission. 

As  soon  as  he  saw  a foreigner,  he  fainted  away.  Ger- 
man guards  came  to  carry  him  to  his  legation.  The  news 
went  quickly  from  one  to  the  other.  The  thought  of  at- 
tempting a journey  to  Tientsin  was  then  given  up. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  SIEGE. 

The  missionaries  were  ordered  to  proceed  to  their  re- 
spective legations,  and  also  immediately  to  the  British  le- 
gation, as  the  international  rendezvous.  Only  a few 
things  could  be  taken,  such  as  personal  servants  could 
carry. 

THE  FATE  OF  REV.  IIUBERTY  JAMES. 

The  one  who  had  made  the  arrangements  for  the 
Catholics,  and  who  was  much  respected  by  the  Prince, 
was  Rev.  Francis  Huberty  James.  About  4 o’clock  in 
the  afternoon,  Mr.  James  was  passing  along  the  north 
side  of  the  palace  on  his  way  to  the  British  legation.  We 
saw  him  motioning  with  his  hand ; a shot  was  heard,  and 
he  disappeared.  Our  only  conjecture  is  that  he  was 
killed.  The  murder  of  these  two  eminent  Europeans  on 
the  same  day  was  China’s  seal  to  her  declaration  of  war ! 


SIEGE  OF  PEKING. 


83 


IN  THE  BRITISH  LEGATION. 

All  the  non-combatants  were  directed  to  establish  them- 
selves at  the  British  legation,  which  had  been  decided 
upon  as  final  defense  in  case  the  other  legations  would 
have  to  be  forsaken.  All  through  the  afternoon  of  the 
20th,  the  foreign  community  came  passing  into  the  lega- 
tion, each  building  being  set  apart  for  the  use  of  some 
one  nationality  or  company.  The  siege  had  begun.  No 
one  knew  the  outcome. 

The  American  missionaries  were  all  tumbled  down  in 
the  chapel,  with  no  food,  kitchen  or  beds,  except  the  bed- 
ding brought  with  them.  While  no  preparation  had  been 
made  for  a siege  or  defense,  things,  however,  got  into 
shape  in  a most  remarkable  manner. 

THE  LINE  OF  DEFENSE 

Was  about  1,000  yards  east  and  west,  from  the  Russian 
and  American  legations  at  the  west  to  the  Italian  legation 
at  the  east,  and  some  600  yards  north  and  south  from  the 
Austrian  legation  at  northeast  and-British  legation  at  the 
northwest  to  the  city  wall  at  the  south.  Between  were 
the  French,  German,  Japanese  and  Spanish  legations,  the 
quarters  of  the  Customs,  the  Hotel  of  Peking,  the  Club, 
Kierulff’s  store,  Imbeck’s  store,  Hong  Kong  Bank,  house 
of  Peking  Syndicate,  the  palace  of  Prince  Su,  and  several 
native  houses  and  shops. 

The  Germans  and  Americans  also  occupied  positions  on 
the  wall.  This  was  the  parallelogram  of  international  de- 
fense. 

At  the  British  legation  were  over  400  foreigners  (not 
including  the  marines)  and  over  350  Chinese,  men, 
women  and  children.  About  2,300  Chinese  were  congre- 


84 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


gated  at  the  palace  of  Prince  Su,  all  of  which  was  turned 
over  to  their  use  the  second  day  of  the  siege. 

The  guns  were  Colt’s  automatic  with  the  Americans, 
the  Nordenfeldt  with  the  British,  a Maxim  gun  with  the 
Austrians,  and  a one-pounder  with  the  Italians.  On  July 
7th  we  utilized  what  was  termed  the  International  Gun. 
Some  gave  it  the  name  of  ‘Betsy.’  It  was  an  old  English 
gun  of  ’60  found  that  day  in  a Chinese  shop  by  a China- 
man. The  shells  fitted  to  this  gun  were  Russian,  the  Rus- 
sians having  brought  shells  but  no  gun.  She  was  placed 
on  an  Italian  carriage  and  had  an  American  gunner. 

THE  FORTIFICATIONS. 

Hardly  had  the  cosmopolitan  company  assembled  at 
the  British  legation,  when  not  only  the  food  supply  be- 
came an  important  question,  but  the  whole  matter  of  for- 
tification was  seen  to  have  been  left  almost  neglected. 

Less  had  been  done  than  at  the  American  Methodist 
Mission,  and  yet  there  was  the  possibility  of  needing  the 
legations  as  a place  of  defense.  Rev.  Mr.  Gamewell,  of 
that  mission,  who  had  shown  skill  in  making  fortifica- 
tions, was  chosen  by  Sir  Claude  Macdonald  as  chief  of 
fortifications.  Day  after  day,  and  many  nights,  he  toiled, 
until  at  the  end  we  began  to  feel  ourselves  quite  secure. 

The  rifle  firing  was  mostly  at  night,  but  the  injury  in- 
flicted was  greater  in  the  day  There  were  some  sharp- 
shooters, showing  that  under  proper  drill  the  Chinese 
could  make  good  soldiers.  Many  of  those  wounded  were 
from  stray  shots  or  from  carelessness.  At  night  the  main 
thing  for  our  men  to  do  was  to  lie  low  and  save  their 
ammunition. 

THE  BIG  GUN  PRACTICE. 

Firing  from  guns  began  on  June  23d,  and  became  real 


SIEGE  OF  PEKING. 


85 


cannonading  by  the  28th.  There  was  a large  three-inch 
gun  at  the' gate  to  the  west  of  the  American  position;  an- 
other at  the  gate  to  the  east  of  the  German  position;  a 
large  Krupp  gun  north  of  Prince  Su’s  palace  and  French 
legation  ; a smaller  gun  for  a few  days  west  of  the  British 
legation,  and  probably  three  guns  in  the  Imperial  City 
north  of  the  British  legation.  In  proportion  to  the  num- 
ber of  shells  or  cannon  balls  fired  the  harm  done  was  very 
slight.  From  July  5th  to  July  13th  the  number  of  shots 
fired,  as  actually  counted,  was  2,614.  The  total  number 
could  not  have  been  less  than  4,000.  Bombshell  shelters 
were  prepared  in  the  British  legation,  but  never  used. 

FAILURES  OF  SORTIES. 

Our  sorties  all  proved  worse  than  failures.  The  first, 
on  June  24th,  under  Captain  Halliday,  was  made  from 
the  British  legation  to  capture  the  gun  which  fired  from 
the  west.  The  gun  was  not  reached,  and  Captain  Halli- 
day was  so  severely  wounded  that  until  the  troops  came 
he  was  unfit  for  service. 

The  second  sortie  was  made  on  July  1st  to  capture  the 
large  gun  to  the  north.  There  were  two  routes  taken 
from  the  grounds  of  Prince  Su.  One  route  was  taken  by 
a few  Italians  and  British  under  the  Italian  commander, 
Lieutenant  Paolini.  The  second  was  taken  by  the  Japa- 
nese under  Captain  Ando.  The  former  course  proved  a 
bad  one,  leading  right  up  against  a Chinese  barricade. 
At  once  the  trap  was  sprung.  Two  Italian  marines  were 
killed,  the  Italian  commander,  two  British  marines,  and 
a student  of  the  British  legation,  Mr.  W.  C.  Townsend, 
were  wounded.  In  the  Japanese  party  one  was  killed. 

A third  sortie  to  capture  the  same  gun  was  made  on 
July  6th  by  the  Japanese  under  Captain  Ando.  The  gun 


86 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


was  not  captured,  but  just  when  it  was  reached  Captain 
Ando  was  killed,  and  two  Japanese  were  wounded. 

THE  EMPRESS  AND  THE  BOXERS. 

The  guns  and  most  of  the  rifles  were  fired  by  Chinese 
soldiers,  as  the  regimentals  proved  to  us  when  they  were 
captured ; still,  as  the  edicts  early  in  the  war  show,  the 
aid  of  the  Boxers  was  called  in  by  the  throne.  On  June 
the  24th  the  edict  was  issued  appointing  Prince  Chuang. 
one  of  the  heriditary  princes  like  Prince  Su,  in  supreme 
command  of  the  Boxers. 

On  the  following  day  recognition  was  continued  by 
the  Empress  Dowager  giving  100,000  taels,  not  only  to 
the  two  divisions  of  Manchu  troops,  but  to  the  Boxers. 
She  exhorted  the  Imperial  nobles  not  to  be  behind  the 
Boxers  in  courage  and  loyalty.  Then  and  afterward  the 
Christian  adherents  were  condemned,  warned  or  insulted. 

A GERMAN  DISASTER. 

On  June  30th  and  July  1st  came  a serious  encounter 
with  the  Chinese  on  the  part  of  the  Germans.  On  the 
former  day  the  Chinese  placed  a gun  east  of  the  German 
position  on  the  wall,  and  began  to  put  up  a new  barricade 
nearer  the  Germans.  The  Germans,  with  a weak  barri- 
cade and  only  rifles,  but  with  plenty  of  pluck,  began  to 
fire.  The  Chinese  from  a sheltered  position  answered 
hotly.  The  result  was  a bad  one  for  the  Germans,  the 
worst  of  the  whole  siege.  Two  were  killed  instantly; 
two  were  wounded,  who  soon  died ; and  four  others  were 
wounded,  but  recovered.  The  same  day  three  others 
were  wounded,  and  one  died  from  wounds. 

AN  UNFORTUNATE  RETREAT 

Early  on  the  1st  of  July  the  Germans  retired  from  their 
position  on  the  city  wall  to  their  legation.  The  Ameri- 


SIEGE  OF  PEKING. 


87 


cans,  further  to  the  west,  saw  their  German  comrades 
rushing  down  the  ramp,  and  Captain  Hall,  realizing  that 
his  men  would  now  be  exposed  to  fire  from  both  east  and 
west,  and  in  fact  were  already  being  shelled,  gave  orders 
to  his  men  to  retire  to  their  legation  from  the  other  ramp. 
The  Minister  and  secretary,  both  participants  in  the  Civil 
War,  saw  clearly  that  this  retreat  would  endanger  their 
legation,  and  that,  if  the  guns  should  be  placed  nearer 
they  would  endanger  the  general  defense  at  the  British 
legation.  The  British  Minister  and  Captain  Myers  were 
consulted,  and  the  order  was  given  to  return  to  the  wall 
and  hold  it  at  all  hazards.  All  of  us  were  willing  to  as- 
sist, and  so  spent  the  Sunday  morning  in  making  sand 
bags,  filling  them  and  transferring  them  to  the  American 
legation.  The  Chinese  were  also  busy  in  barricading, 
and  having  a larger  number  of  men  could  accomplish 
more. 

They  began  a new  barricade  thirty  yards  west  and  ex- 
tended it  crosswise  into  a bastion  almost  up  to  the  Ameri- 
can barricade.  The  two  were  so  near  that  bricks  were 
thrown  bv  the  Chinese  upon  the  Americans.  A plan  was 
formed  to  make  an  assault  upon  the  Chinese  that  night. 
The  aid  of  British  and  Russians  was  given,  and  about 
2 o’clock  on  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  July,  the  advance 
was  made.  Captain  Meyers  led  the  British  and  Ameri- 
cans by  the  south  end  to  the  bastion  and  inside  the  bar- 
ricade of  the  Chinese.  As  he  passed  through  he  struck 
his  leg  against  a spear,  which  inflicted  a painful  wound. 

I he  Chinese  were  taken  by  surprise  and  fled  clear  down 
to  their  second  barricade.  Two  of  the  American  marines 
were  killed.  The  Russians  took  the  direct  course  along 
the  north  edge  of  the  wall  up  to  the  Chinese  barricade, 
which  they  afterward  held.  One  Russian  was  wounded. 


88 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


By  the  combined  attack  some  forty  of  the  Chinese  were 
killed  and  some  rifles  and  ammunition  captured.  New 
and  very  strong  barricades  were  built,  making  the  posi- 
tion almost  impregnable. 

The  French  and  Austrians  at  the  French  legation  had 
a dangerous  position  to  hold.  Shell  fire,  rifle  shots  and 
mine  explosions,  all  fell  to  their  lot.  On  the  12th  of  July 
the  Chinese  were  discovered  making  a mine  into  the  lega- 
tion from  the  east. 

A DETERMINED  ATTACK. 

The  13th  of  July  was  the  day  of  a most  severe  assault, 
and  the  only  real  forward  move  from  the  Chinese.  About 
dusk  the  mine,  which  had  been  dug,  exploded,  burying 
three  in  the  ruins,  one  of  whom  was  Dr.  von  Rosthorn, 
Charge  d ’Affaires  for  Austria. 

In  a few  minutes  a second  explosion  came,  which  blew 
Dr.  von  Rosthorn  out  of  the  ruins,  he  having  only  a slight 
bruise.  Several  of  the  Chinese  were  also  buried  in  the 
ruins.  The  explosion  destroyed  part  of  two  buildings. 
Fires  wrere  started  which  destroyed  the  Minister’s  main 
building.  The  Chinese  at  the  same  time  kept  up  a heavy 
firing.  The  French  and  Austrians,  though  forced  to  give 
up  over  half  of  the  legation  and  occupy  only  the  western 
part,  maintained  a steady  fire.  Besides  the  two  buried  in 
the  ruins,  one  French  marine  was  killed,  the  French  com- 
mander, Lieutenant  Darcy,  two  French  marines  and  one 
Austrian  were  wounded.  The  Chinese  are  reported  to 
have  lost  over  200. 

SPLENDID  DEFENSE. 

There  must  have  been  an  unusually  large  number 
making  this  attack.  The  bugles  blew,  and  the  turmoil 
kept  up  for  nearly  two  hours.  All  the  eastern  line  of  de- 


SIEGE  OF  PEKING. 


89 


fense  was  under  tremendous  fire,  but  considering  the 
numbers,  our  men  made  a gallant  fight  and  splendid  re- 
sistance, enough  to  prevent  a similar  attempt.  While 
our  combined  forces  had  to  give  up  a position  on  the  wall 
at  the  German  legation,  a position  in  the  French  legation 
and  the  grounds  of  Prince  Su,  we  advanced  by  occupying 
a stronger  and  larger  position  on  the  wall  at  the  Ameri- 
can legation,  a position  in  the  Hanlin,  and  latterly  a Mon- 
gol market  west  of  the  British  legation,  where  the  Chi- 
nese at  the  beginning  had  done  their  heaviest  firing. 
The  rifle  firing,  though  slack  in  the  day  time,  had  its  se- 
rious effect.  Our  own  men,  after  the  first  few  days,  sel- 
dom shot  except  to  hit.  The  Chinese  sometimes  aimed, 
but  more  often  fired  into  walls  or  space.  Some  of  our 
number  were  hit  in  the  British  legation  from  shots  fired 
in  the  palace  of  Prince  Su,  and  others  were  hit  in  the 
American  legation  from  shots  on  the  city  wall.  We  give 
below  a list  of  the  casualties  during  the  siege : 


CASUALTIES. 


Killed  or 

No.  of  died  of  wounds.  Wounded.  Volunteers 
Legations—  Off.  Men.  Off.  Men.  Off.  Men.  K'ed.W'ed. 

American 3 53  ••  7 2 8 ..  1 

Austrian 5 30  1 8 3 8 .... 

British  3 79  1 2 2 18  3 6 

French 3 45  2 9 . . 37  2 6 

German  1 50  ..  12  ..  15  1 1 

Japanese  1 24  . . 5 . . 21  5 8 

Italian  1 23  ..  7 1 n 

Russian  2 79  - • 4 1 18  1 1 


9 R36 


Totals 


19  383 


4 


44 


12  23 


90 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


pei-t'ang  (Roman  Catholic  Mission). 


French  i 60  i 4 . . 8 

Italian  1 11  ..  6 1 3 

Totals 2 71  1 10  1 11 


Total  killed,  67;  wounded,  167. 

We  had  less  than  600,  which  gradually  diminished 
to  400,  defended  one  wide  circuit  against  a foe  which  at 
one  time  must  have  been  as  many  as  10,000.  The  foe 
for  nearly  a month  kept  up  a severe  attack  in  one  form  or 
another,  and  had  no  compunctions  because  innocent 
women  and  c hildren,  high  representatives  of  foreign 
powers,  or  old  friends  in  the  pay  of  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment, were  the  objects  of  their  wrath.  It  was  all  done, 
too,  with  the  consent  of  the  Chinese  Government 

THE  COMMISSARIAT. 

Besides  the  military  part  of  the  siege,  including  the 
work  of  fortifications,  a serious  problem  was  that  of 
providing  a supply  of  food  not  only  for  nearly  1,000  for- 
eigners, but  for  over  2,500  Chinese.  Little  thought  had 
been  given  this  subject  before  we  were  suddenly  in  the 
midst  of  a forced  imprisonment.  The  members  of  the 
British  legation  staff  had,  of  course,  a supply  of  canned 
goods,  but  each  group  had  to  form  plans  for  itself,  which 
resulted  in  greater  comfort  for  some  than  for  others.  The 
purchase  of  vegetables  was  no  longer  possible.  As  to 
meat,  there  were  a few  sheep,  sufficient  for  the  sick, 
wounded  and  the  favored  only  a few  weeks.  There  were, 
fortunately,  a good  number  of  horses  and  mules  in  the 
legation  or  brought  in  the  first  day.  Thus  our  meat  sup- 
ply kept  up  until  the  end.  As  to  flour,  there  were  only  a 


BEHIND  THE  BREASTWORKS  DURING  THE  SIEGE  OF  PEKING. 


SIEGE  OF  FEKING. 


93 


few  bags  of  white  flour  for  the  whole  company.  Fortu- 
nately, again,  there  were  native  shops  within  our  line  of 
defense,  and  therein  was  an  abundant  store  of  rice,  coarse 
wheat  and  still  coarser  grain.  A mill  was  started  and 
kept  a-going  grinding  flour,  which  was  both  nutritious 
and  really  palatable.  A public  bakery  was  also  started. 
Coffee,  tea  and  sugar  lasted,  and  butter  for  occasional 
use. 

SAD  POSITION  OF  THE  CHILDREN. 

The  main  anxiety  was  concerning  the  little  children. 
It  was  difficult  to  keep  a supply  of  condensed  milk,  for 
the  grown-up  were  disinclined  at  the  outset  to  forego  its 
use.  In  various  ways  the  children  were  cared  for.  There 
were  several  cases  of  sickness  among  them.  The  only 
deaths  from  sickness  were  of  children.  There  were  five 
of  these  little  ones  called  away  to  their  happier  home,  one 
child  of  Mrs.  Kruger,  two  of  Mrs.  Imbeck,  one  of  Mrs. 
Inglis  and  one  of  Mrs.  Book.  The  sickness  among  the 
Chinese,  and  especially  the  children,  was  much  greater, 
owing  to  poorer  food  and  accommodations. 

On  August  loth  a secret  message  arrived  from  Gen- 
eral Fukushima,  after  communication  had  been  inter- 
rupted with  the  reinforcements  for  a few  days.  It  was 
dated  Mang-tsi-tsun,  August  8th,  8:20  A.  M.,  and  stated 
that  the  reinforcements  had  already  arrived  there,  and, 
unless  there  occurred  some  unforeseen  event,  Peking 
would  be  reached  either  on  the  13th  or  14th.  This  trust- 
worthy information  visibly  encouraged  the  besieged 
people. 

After  the  message  reporting  the  approach  of  the  relief 
troops  was  received  all  the  people  were  craning  their 
necks,  expecting  their  arrival,  though  their  coming  had 


. 94 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


been  almost  despaired  of  and  the  reinforcements  were 
seldom  spoken  of. 

The  French  Minister  had  heard  from  a coolie  that 
there  had  been  a severe  engagement  at  Chang-chia-wang 
August  nth,  and  1,000  Chinese  had  been  killed  and 
wounded.  According  to  General  Fukushima’s  message, 
the  allies  were  to  arrive  in  Peking  to-morrow  or  the  day 
after  to-morrow,  and  we  expected  every  moment  to  hear 
the  sound  of  cannonading,  but  we  listened  in  vain.  No 
one  came  from  the  Tsung-Li  Yamen,  in  spite  of  the 
promise  that  some  one  would  come.  We  expected  that 
the  enemy  would  make  a last  desperate  attack  on  us  when 
the  allies  approached  Peking. 

As  was  expected,  rifle  firing  was  commenced  at  5 P.  M., 
and  it  was  briskly  kept  up  till  dawn  the  .following  morn- 
ing. The  P>ritish  legation  suffered  the  brunt  of  the  at- 
tack. This  was  the  hardest  fighting  we  had  since  the 
conclusion  of  the  armistice. 

On  August  13th  the  Tsung-Li  Yamen  notified  the  for- 
eign Ministers  that  Prince  Tuan  and  other  Ministers 
would  come  to  the  British  legation  at  11  A.  M.,  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  on  peace  negotiations.  The  promise 
was  not  fulfilled.  A message  was  sent  instead,  in  which 
it  was  said  that  China  desired  the  restoration  of  peace, 
hut  the  foreign  soldiers  having  unreasonably  fired  on  the 
Chinese,  had  killed  twenty-six  of  them.  The  foreign 
Ministers,  the  message  added,  evidently  did  not  wish  the 
restoration  of  peace,  and  it  was  necessarv  for  the  Chinese 
officials  to  come  to  negotiate  peace.  About  1 1 A.  M.  the 
sound  of  cannonading  was  heard  toward  the  southeast, 
apparently  heralding  the  approach  of  the  relief  columns; 
at  10  P.  M.  the  enemy  commenced  a severe  attack,  which, 
unlike  former  occasions,  was  very  determined. 


SIEGE  OF  PEKING. 


95 


August  14th  was  the  day  on  which  the  allies  were  to 
arrive  in  Peking.  All  were  expecting  the  sound  of  the 
bombardment.  At  2 A.  M.  the  sound  of  field  and  gatling 
guns  was  heard  in  the  direction  between  the  Tung-pien 
and  the  Tse-hwa  gates.  The  delight  of  all  may  well  be 
imagined.  The  bombardment  grew  fiercer.  A report  was 
brought  that  200  foreign  troops  had  entered  Peking  early 
this  morning.  The  reinforcements  which  we  had  been 
awaiting  for  sixty  long  days  arrived  at  last.  The  dark- 
complexioned  and  yellow-clad  Indian  troops  were  the 
first  to  arrive  at  the  foreign  legations. 


THE  SONG  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

By  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Fern,  to  the  American  air,  “Tramp, 
tramp,  tramp,  the  boys  are  marching” : 

In  the  city  of  Peking,  with  its  ancient  walls  of  brick, 

And  its  streets  for  mud  and  filth  afar  renowned. 

We  have  been  besieged  for  weeks  by  3 beastly  Chinese  trick. 
And  the  buildings  all  around  us  burned  to  ground, 

CHORUS. 

Tramp,  tramp,  tramp,  the  troops  are  marching, 

Cheer  up,  comrades,  they  will  come. 

And  beneath  our  various  flags  we  shall  breathe  fresh  air 
again, 

In  the  Freeland  of  our  own  beloved  home. 

Here  are  diplomats  galore,  representing  foreign  Powers, 

And  they  cause  the  Tsung-Li  Yamen  anxious  care; 

They  will  neither  march  straight  home,  nor  reside  mid  fruit 
and  flowers 

At  the  Yamen,  though  they’ve  been  invited  there. 

Chorus. 

From  all  nations  have  we  come  on  a peaceful  mission  bent, 

Be  it  preaching,  Customs,  banking,  or  what  not. 

China  wanted  not  our  help,  so  she  stupidly  has  sent 
For  the  Boxers  to  exterminate  the  lot. 

Chorus. 


96 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


They  have  poured  in  shot  and  shell,  with  an  aim  so  far  from 
true, 

T hat  most  of  us  still  live  to  tell  the  tale; 

Six-pound  shot  and  shrapnel  fierce,  walls  and  barracks  have 
passed  through, 

Yet  in  every  wild  attack  they  always  fail. 

Chorus. 

We've  400  brave  marines,  who  have  borne  fatigue  and  pain, 
And  have  seen  some  scores  of  captives  fall  in  death, 

And  we  feel  it  certain  sure  that  no  enemy  can  gain 
Our  strong  fortress  while  these  men  have  vital  breath. 
Chorus. 

We  have  rice  and  corn  and  wheat,  store  of  grain  for  weeks  to 
come, 

Pony-steak  and  stew  we  find  not  bad  to  eat; 

Why  need  we  at  all  to  count  on  Imperial  favor’s  crumb, 

Be  it  water  melons,  squashes  or  fresh  meat? 

Chorus. 

We’ve  a cannon  old  and  tried,  from  a tin-shop  saved  by  chance. 
Which  we  fire  on  the  enemy  with  glee. 

When  they  first  did  hear  it  roar,  how  it  made  them  hop  and 
dance. 

For  our  Betsy  is  a wonder  for  to  see. 

Chorus. 

We've  been  kept  in  best  of  cheer  by  the  faithful  ladies  fair. 
Who  have  worked  with  might  and  main  to  help  the  men; 

Of  the  wounded  and  the  sick  they  have  taken  best  of  care, 

And  have  made  a million  sandbags,  lacking  ten. 

Chorus. 

News  from  Tientsin  cheers  our  hearts  that  our  troops  are  on 
the  way. 

Three  and  thirty  thousand  men  of  valor  tried; 

So  in  joyful  hope  we  wait,  sure  that  they  will  bring  the  day 
Of  relief  to  11s  and  death  to  Chinese  pride. 

Chorus. 


THE  RELIEF  OF  PEKING. 


Chapter  X. 

A full  account  of  the  taking  of  Peking  is  given  by  the 
“Nagasaki  Press,”  from  which  we  take  the  following 
salient  points : 

The  allied  forces  left  Tientsin  on  August  3d,  and  did 
not  meet  with  any  great  opposition  until  they  reached  Pei- 
tsang  and  Yang-tsun.  At  these  places  serious  engage- 
ments took  place,  but  the  enemy  was  soon  routed  in  both 
places.  From  Yang-tsun  on  to  Tung-Chow  there  was 
no  organized  effort  on  the  part  of  the  enemy  to  stop  us. 

The  Twenty-first  Brigade,  with  headquarters,  moved 
out  of  Tung-Chow  at  3 130  A.  M.,  the  Forty-second  Regi- 
ment forming  the  main  bod) . These  troops  moved  rap- 
idly to  a position  1,200  metres  from  the  Tsi-hwa  Gate. 
The  Twenty-first  Regiment,  nowever,  bore  off  to  the 
right,  taking  the  Tung-chih  Gate  for  an  objective  point. 

Outside  the  Tse-hwa  Gate  there  is  a stone  bridge,  and 
this  was  reached  by  the  Forty-first  Regiment  at  6:10 
A.  M.  The  cavalry  scouts  reported  that  the  enemy  were 
ranged  on  the  wall  in  fighting  order.  The  artillery  of  the 
Forty-first  Regiment,  therefore,  came  into  action  on  one 
wing,  and  the  infantry  advanced  under  cover  of  its  fire. 
The  enemy  opened  a severe  fire  from  the  wall,  and  the 
Japanese  troops  pushed  on  gradually,  finding  cover  in  the 


98 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


houses  on  either  side  of  the  road.  On  approaching  the 
gate,  they  found  the  walls  and  towers  intact,  and  so  high 
that  to  scale  them  was  quite  out  of  the  question.  Yaz-ki, 
with  a detachment  of  the  First  Company,  and  Captain 
Minamiyama,  with  the  Tenth  Company,  attempted  to 
force  the  gate,  but  failed.  Major  Saiki  then  led  the  fore- 
most battalion  to  the  gate,  for  the  purpose  of  blowing  it 
up  with  gun-cotton,  but  the  enemy’s  fire  was  so  heavy 
that  it  was  found  impossible  to  effect  this  purpose. 

The  casualties  at  this  stage  were  very  heavy.  The  ar- 
tillery now  received  orders  from  Lieutenant  General  Ya- 
maguchi  to  fire  at  the  enemy  crowding  the  wall.  The  ar- 
tillery’s position  was  on  an  elevated  spot  about  1,500  or 
1,600  metres  from  the  Tse-hwa  Gate,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Colonel  Nagata.  It  commenced  firing  at  9 140 
A.  M.,  the  eighteen  field  guns  and  twenty-six  mountain 
guns  keeping  up  an  incessant  cannonade.  Several  at- 
tempts were  made  to  carry  forward  gun-cotton,  but  the 
men  could  not  yet  cross  the  zone  of  fire. 

The  Tung-chi  Gate,  which  was  attacked  by  the  Twenty- 
first  Regiment,  was  captured  in  a similar  manner  to  that 
of  the  Tse-hwa  Gate,  the  outer  and  the  inner  gates  being 
blown  up  by  gun-cotton.  Then  the  Twenty-first  Regi- 
ment charged  through  the  streets,  and  the  enemy  fled, 
leaving  several  hundreds  of  dead  and  seventy  pieces  of  ar- 
tillery. 

The  Forty-second  Regiment,  which  had  formed  the 
main  body  of  the  division,  took  no  part  in  the  attack 
on  the  city.  It  entered  Peking  on  the  night  of  the  14th 
by  the  Tse-hwa  Gate,  after  the  latter  had  been  blown  up 
by  the  Eleventh  Regiment  and  200  rank  and  file  killed  or 
wounded.  Major  Murayama,  who  was  in  command  of 


RELIEF  OF  PEKING. 


99 


the  leading  battalion  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment,  disposed 
his  men  to  assist  the  attack  on  the  Tse-hwa  Gate,  but  as 
news  reached  him  just  then  that  the  Russians  had  effected 
an  entry  at  the  Tung-pien  Gate,  he  ordered  the  battalion 
to  march  thither,  with  the  object  of  opening  speedy  com- 
munication with  the  legations.  But  the  battalion,  on 
reaching  the  gate,  found  that  it  had  not  been  breached, 
and,  therefore,  the  troops  were  marched  back.  At  6 
P.  M.,  however,  another  message  was  received  saying 
that  the  Tung-pien  Gate  had  been  breached,  and  the  First 
and  Third  Battalions  marched  at  once  to  the  place,  enter- 
ing in  succession  to  the  Russian  troops.  The  Russians 
had  experienced  unlooked-for  resistance,  and  had  many 
killed  and  wounded,  a number  also  falling  into  the  en- 
emy’s hands. 

Between  the  gate  and  the  ground  there  was  an  interval 
sufficient  for  a man  to  creep  through.  Into  this  interval 
Captain  Hayashi  thrust  himself,  carrying  a hand  electric 
lamp.  He  was  able  to  ascertain  that  the  gates  were 
formed  of  a single  panel,  and  that  the  enemy  were  not  in 
sight.  Accordingly  he  and  ten  men  crept  under  the  gate, 
and,  on  ascending  the  parapet,  found  that  the  gate  was 
constructed  so  as  to  be  raised  and  lowered  in  a groove. 
They  raised  it  sufficiently  to  allow  of  the  passage  of  a 
horse,  and  the  Japanese  troops  then  took  the  lead,  the 
Russians  following.  They  reached  the  legations  at  8:^5 
P.  M. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  delight  of  the  foreigners 
and  the  warmth  of  their  thanks.  We  were  not  the  first 
to  reach  the  legations,  however,  for  the  Indian  troops 
w ere  before  us,  having  found  a special  route  to  the  center 
of  the  city,  and  this  they  took  with  a small  force.  It  was 
a brilliant  achievement.  Their  plan  of  action  was  this: 


IOO 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


Between  the  British  and  the  Japanese  legations  runs  a 
canal;  which  has  its  exit  under  the  city  wall.  The  point 
where  the  canal  emerges  is  guarded  by  an  iron  grating, 
which  does  not  reach  fully  to  the  surface  of  the  canal.  It 
happened  that  the  water  in  the  canal  was  exceptionally 
low,  and  the  British  officers,  taking  advantage  of  the  fact, 
let  a body  of  Indian  troops  under  the  grating,  a pro- 
ceeding against  which  the  enemy  had  made  no  sort  of 
preparation.  These  troops  reached  the  legations  at  2 
P.  M.  on  the  14th. 

The  measures  for  defense  taken  by  the  foreign  com- 
munity were  remarkably  strong.  All  around  the  conces- 
sion and  from  thence  to  the  Chinese  town  a brick  parapet 
had  been  built.  This  parapet  had  been  rebuilt  several 
times,  the  extent  being  reduced  on  each  occasion,  so  that 
it  tells  a plain  tale  of  how  the  foreigners  were  gradually 
driven  back.  Ihe  British  legation  had  been  regarded  as 
the  citadel.  Sand  bags  wrere  piled  up  in  all  the  windows, 
and  the  defenses  were  of  the  most  minute  character.  It 
is  said  that  these  defenses  were  planned  chiefly  by  Rev. 
F.  D.  Gamewell  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Shiba. 

The  spirit  of  the  garrison  had  never  flagged,  but  their 
appearance  indicated  great  exhaustion,  the  natural  result 
of  protracted  anxiety  and  deficient  provisions.  The  na- 
tive converts  in  the  British  legation  often  had  nothing  to 
eat  but  grass  and  leaves ; several  of  them  died  of  starva- 
tion. I have  myself  seen  many  of  them  since  the  relief, 
who  appear  to  be  in  an  almost  hopeless  condition  of  ex- 
haustion. 

The  sudden  revulsion  from  death  to  life  was  almost 
too  much  for  human  nerves,  “And  there  was  great  joy  in 
the  city.”  The  next  day  the  7th  verse  of  the  124th  Psalm 


THE  FLEEING  OF  THE  COURT  FROM  PEKIN 


RELIEF  OF  PEKING. 


103 


was  telegraphed  home  by  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  as  a summary 
of  the  situation : “Our  soul  is  escaped  as  a bird  out  of 
the  snare  of  the  fowlers;  the  snare  is  broken  and  we  are 
escaped.” 

The  loss  by  death  of  the  allies  in  entering  Peking  was 
remarkably  small,  being,  all  told,  under  130  men,  or  less 
than  it  cost  to  take  the  position  at  Pei-tsang,  and  very 
considerably  less  than  the  city  of  Tientsin. 

The  clearing  out  of  Peking  has  been  finished.  The 
enemy,  consisting  principally  of  the  troops  of  the  Eight 
Flags  and  of  the  Boxers,  have  retired,  dispersing  in  all 
directions.  Our  guards  for  the  palace  have  rescued  and 
liberated  the  foreign  Christians  and  native  converts  in 
other  parts  of  the  ctiy. 

The  Empress  Dowager  and  her  court  made  their  es- 
cape from  the  city  through  the  Western  Gate,  taking  the 
Emperor  along  as  a prisoner.  They  left  none  too  soon, 
for  when  they  were  going  through  the  Western  Gate  the 
allied  forces  were  coming  in  the  Eastern  Gate.  They 
kept  up  their  flight,  over  hill  and  dale,  for  many  days, 
until  they  reached  Si-An-fu,  the  capital  of  Shen- 
si. Here  they  have  taken  up  their  abode  and  have  opened 
up  communication  with  Peking  through  Li-Hung-Chang 
and  Prince  Ching,  who  have  been  appointed  as  peace  en- 
voys. 

NOTES  ON  THE  SIEGE  OF  PEKING. 

The  defense  of  the  legations’  pales,  we  are  told  by  one 
of  the  besieged,  began  before  the  defense  of  the  Pei-tang, 
or  Roman  Catholic  Mission,  at  Peking.  There  were  there 
Bishop  Favier,  six  or  seven  priests,  some  twenty  sisters 
and  some  2,000  native  converts,  men  women  and  chil- 
dren, with  thirty  French  and  ten  Italian  guards,  only 


104 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


forty  riiles  in  all.  When  one  of  the  guards  fell  his  rifle 
was  handed  to  a native  convert.  The  enemy  exploded 
five  mines  altogether  under  the  besieged,  in  one  of  which 
some  eighty  persons,  principally  women  and  children,  and 
five  Italian  guards  were  buried.  The  Italian  officer  was 
buried  in  it  for  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  and  was  got 
out  almost  unhurt.  After  the  relief  another  large  mine 
was  discovered  under  the  church  itself,  the  explosion  of 
which  would  have  caused  a tremendous  loss  of  life. 
Electric  conductors  were  found  in  this  mine.  The  Pei- 
tang  beat  the  legations  in  one  thing — in  that  the  converts 
succeeded  in  capturing  one  of  the  enemy’s  guns,  with  its 
ammunition,  and  in  making  ammunition  for  it  when  the 
captured  supply  came  to  an  end.  For  two  months  there 
was  no  communication  between  the  Pei-tang  and  the  le- 
gations, and  neither  knew  how  the  others  were  faring. 
At  the  end  the  rations  at  the  Pei-tang  were  reduced  to 
two  ounces  of  rice  a day  a head,  with  a little  horse  meat 
for  the  fighting  men,  and  if  the  relief  had  not  come  when 
it  did  the  majority  of  the  2,000  converts,  the  priests  and 
the  sisters  must  have  died  of  starvation. 

The  relief  was  not  a day  too  soon,  as  far  as  the  mine 
under  the  British  legation  was  concerned.  As  we  have 
already  mentioned,  some  traitor  within  the  legation  must 
have  given  the  enemy  the  necessary  information,  for  it 
was  driven  through  the  only  place  where  the  trenches 
running  north  and  south,  east  and  west  did  not  quite 
meet.  It  came  from  the  ruined  Hanlin  College,  and  was 
about  170  feet  long,  the  chamber  being  underneath  the 
students’  quarters.  There  was  one  barrel  of  powder  in 


RELIEF  OF  PEKING. 


io5 

the  chamber  and  twelve  other  barrels  waiting  to  be 
stacked  there,  and  the  fuse  was  laid.  Had  it  been  ex- 
ploded the  Japanese  Minister  and  his  family  and  staff 
would  have  been  victims,  for  they  were  quartered  in  the 
students’  premises,  with  several  of  the  students  them- 
selves and  the  mess  of  die  Royal  Marines,  and  the  loss 
of  life  would  probably  have  been  very  large. 

Some  of  the  Peking  besieged  are  loud  in  their  praise  of 
the  conduct  of  the  American,  as  well  as  the  British,  mis- 
sionaries during  the  siege.  As  has  already  been  men- 
tioned, the  defenses  of  the  British  legation  were  the  fruit 
of  the  engineering  talent  of  the  Rev.  F.  D.  Gamewell,  of 
the  American  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission,  who  was  as 
indefatigable  as  he  was  resourceful.  The  missionaries 
generally  were  not  armed,  and  did  not  take  their  places 
in  the  fighting  line,  but  they  were  most  useful  in  many 
other  equally  valuable  ways,  and  in  tlieir  unabated  cheer- 
fulness under  all  circumstances,  which  was  often  as  good 
as  a tonic  to  those  who  were  wearied  or  inclined,  as  they 
were  sometimes,  to  be  despondent.  One  of  the  mission- 
aries started  a bakery,  there  being  a good  stock  of  flour, 
from  which  he  turned  out  excellent  bread,  and  all  made 
themselves  useful  one  way  or  the  other.  The  mission- 
aries were  quartered  in  the  legation  chapel,  and  over 
eighty  of  them  slept  there. 

The  commissariat  might  have  been  worse  and  it  might 
have  been  better.  There  was  plenty  of  rice,  and  two 
ponies  were  killed  daily  for  meat.  There  were  a very 
few  sheep,  J.  R.  Brazier,  Chief  Secretary  of  the  Customs, 
being  shepherd,  but  these  were  kept  for  the  hospital. 


io6 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


Several  children  died  for  the  want  of  milk.  Eggs  were 
occasionally  procurable  from  a Chinese  soldier,  who  also 
sold  ammunition  and  false  intelligence  for  a considera- 
tion. 

One  very  deplorable  item  was  that  there  were  not 
enough  medicines  and  lint  in  the  legation.  There  was 
only  one  bottle  of  chloroform  available  and  no  bandages. 
Had  the  siege  lasted  much  longer,  or  had  more  serious 
explosions  occurred,  there  would  have  been  no  help  for 
the  wounded. 

Throughout  the  siege  the  behavior  of  the  ladies  was 
beyond  praise.  After  the  first  shock  they  went  about 
their  duties,  tending  the  sick  and  wounded  as  calmly 
as  trained  nurses.  Not  one  flinched,  and  they  were  ex- 
amples to  some  of  the  men. 

Although  there  were  plenty  of  doctors,  a lady,  Dr.  Sa- 
ville,  shewed  conspicuous  courage  under  fire,  and  was 
untiring  in  her  efforts  to  relieve  the  sick  and  wounded. 

One  sad  occurrence  was  the  wounding  of  a lady,  the 
first  lady  hit  in  Peking  after  the  occupation.  While 
tending  a wounded  man,  she  was  struck  by  a bullet  in 
the  thigh,  and  her  attendant,  a Sikh,  was  also  wounded. 

In  defiance  of  orders,  the  looting  by  the  allies  was  uni- 
versal. It  is  curious  to  note  that  the  Chinese  were  more 
frightened  of  the  dusky  faces  of  the  British  Indian  troops 
than  they  were  of  their  bullets.  Upon  entering  the  Im- 
perial City  the  allied  forces  found  in  the  carriage  park 
arsenal  many  thousand  stands  of  arms,  also  ammunition, 
cannon,  etc.,  all  of  which  were  new  and  of  German 
make. 


FEARFUL  SUFFERING  OF  FOREIGNERS  IN  IN- 
LAND CHINA. 


Chapter  XI. 

The  following  accounts  have  been  gathered,  when  pos- 
sible, from  those  who  had  to  pass  through  these  fearful 
trials.  In  some  cases  the  information  regarding  the 
fiends  were  through  native  sources.  Especially  is  this  so 
in  the  case  of  the  wholesale  butchery  by  the  infamous 
Yu  Hsien,  Governor  of  Shan-si,  who  at  one  time  mur- 
dered fifty-one  men,  women  and  children  to  satisfy  his 
cruel  hate  of  foreigners. 

A native  Christian  from  Shan-si,  vouched  for  by  mis- 
sionaries who  know  him  well,  gives  the  following  regard- 
ing the  Shan-si  massacre:  Miss  Whitchurch  and  Miss 
Sewell  were  murdered  at  Hsiao-i-hsien  on  the  29th  of 
June.  A crowd  of  Boxers  came  to  the  house,  broke  in 
the  door  and  acted  in  a most  alarming  manner.  The 
ladies,  who  were  quite  alone,  sent  at  once  to  the  Magis- 
trate, who  came  in  person,  flew  into  a rage,  and  told  them 
his  soldiers  were  for  the  protection  of  the  Chinese,  not 
for  such  as  they.  The  Boxers  then  rushed  into  the  house 
and  removed  everything  of  value,  looting  it  thoroughly. 
The  two  helpless  ladies  were  seized,  stripped  of  all  their 
clothes,  and  clubbed  to  death.  After  all  was  over  the 
Magistrate  returned  and  buried  them  in  the  baptistry. 


io8 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


On  the  same  day  the  house  of  Mr.  Stokes,  a C.  I.  M. 
missionary  at  Tai-yuan-fu,  was  attacked  by  soldiers.  Mr. 
Stokes  had  some  firearms,  and  he  and  the  others  in  the 
house  managed  to  keep  the  troops  at  bay  for  some  time. 
They  saw  that  they  must  be  outnumbered,  however,  and 
as  the  soldiers  prepared  to  fire  the  house,  they  made  their 
escape  by  the  back  of  the  house  to  Mr.  Farthing’s  English 
Baptist  Mission.  One  lady,  a Miss  E.  Coombs,  however, 
in  her  anxiety  about  some  native  Christians,  became  sep- 
arated from  the  others,  and  in  the  confusion  she  got  left 
behind.  The  soldiers  caught  her  and  knocked  her  down, 
but  did  not  stun  her.  She  pleaded  with  them  for  her  life, 
but  the  ruffians  seized  and  flung  her  into  the  burning 
building,  where,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  her  sufferings  were 
brief.  All  the  Protestant  missionaries  collected  in  Mr. 
Farthing’s  house,  and  there  they  stayed  until  summoned 
to  Governor  Yii’s  Yamen,  on  July  9th,  under  a promise 
of  escort  to  Tientsin.  This  party  consisted  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Stokes,  of  the  C.  I.  M. ; Mr.  and  Mrs.  Simpson, 
Hsou-yang  Mission ; Mr.  and  Mrs.  Beynon,  with,  it  is 
believed,  two  children;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Farthing,  with  sev- 
eral children ; Dr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson,  C.  I.  M.,  Ping-yang- 
fu ; Dr.  and  Mrs.  Lovitt,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Piggott,  child  and 
tutor,  of  the  Flsou-yang  Mission,  and  others. 

Just  at  the  end  of  June  the  English  missionaries  at 
Hsou-yang  fled  to  the  mountains,  there  being  serious  signs 
of  trouble,  and  then,  for  some  reason  not  quite  clear, 
they  returned  there.  They  were  immediately  arrested  by 
the  Magistrate,  who  put  them  in  chains,  with  iron  collars 
round  their  necks,  and  sent  them  in  carts  to  Tai-yaun-fu, 
refusing  any  food  on  the  way.  On  arriving  at  Tai-yaun- 
fu,  about  the  10th  of  the' sixth  moon,  July  6th,  they  were 
sent  to  Governor  Yu’s  Yamen,  and  then  sent  by  him  to 


SUFFERING  IN  INLAND  CHINA. 


109 


the  District  Magistrate’s  Yamen,  where  they  were  shut 
up,  the  men  and  women  being  kept  separate  and  the  hus- 
bands and  wives  being  refused  all  intercourse. 

Including  the  Hsou-yang  party  from  Mr.  Farthing’s 
house  already  mentioned,  their  total  number  was  fifty-one. 
When  they  were  all  in  the  Yamen,  the  doors  were  closed, 
and  the  missionaries  realized  that  they  had  been  trapped. 
They  were  not  kept  in  suspense  long.  The  Boxers  were 
ordered  to  enter  and  slaughter  them,  the  Governor’s 
troops  mounting  guard  while  the  ghastly  deed  was  being 
done.  No  particulars  are  positively  known  about  the 
massacre  beyond  the  fact  that  the  heads  of  all  the  victims 
were  displayed  outside  the  Yamen  later  in  the  day.  On 
the  same  day  forty  native  Christians  were  killed,  and  on 
the  following  day  ten  Catholic  priests,  in  the  same  place 
and  manner. 

The  narrative  then  takes  us  to  Tai-kou,  on  July  31st, 
where  the  Boxers  attacked  the  mission  there,  first  kill- 
ing the  preacher,  Mr.  Fiu  Fong-chi,  and  Mr.  Liu,  his  as- 
sistant. Messrs.  Clapp,  Williams  'and  Davis,  who  had 
firearms,  fired  on  the  Boxers  from  the  roofs  of  their 
houses,  and  for  a time  kept  them  at  bay,  the  ladies  of  the 
mission,  Mrs.  Clapp,  Miss  Bird  and  Miss  Partridge, 
meanwhile  taking  refuge  in  one  of  the  outhouses  of  the 
mission  compound.  They  were  soon  overpowered  and  all 
killed,  and  the  heads  of  the  whole  party  were  taken  to 
Tai-yuan-fu.  One  hundred  native  Christians,  including 
sixty  Catholics,  were  also  massacred  at  this  place. 

His  last  story  of  massacre  brings  us  to  August  15th  and 
Yen-chou-fu.  There  were  at  the  station  when  the 
trouble  began,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Price  and  little  girl,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Atwater  and  two  girls,  belonging  to  the  American 
Board ; Mr.  and  Mrs.  Landgren  and  Miss  Eldred,  of  the 


IIO 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


C.  I.  M.  On  the  15th  of  August  the  party  were  ordered 
by  the  Prefect  to  leave  the  place,  he  promising  to  give 
them  a guard  of  twenty  soldiers  as  an  escort  to  Tien- 
tsin. The  Prefect  had  been  ordered  to  drive  them  out, 
and  there  was,  therefore,  no  help  for  it  but  to  go,  and 
although  the  Magistrate  again  pleaded  for  a few  days’ 
delay  it  was  refused,  and  early  on  the  15th  they 
started  under  an  escort  of  twenty  soldiers.  When  they 
had  gone  about  twenty  li  he  discovered  that  another  band 
of  soldiers  were  lying  in  wait  ten  li  further  on,  and, 
knowing  he  could  not  save  them,  he  managed  to  get 
away.  He  subsequently  learned  that,  on  meeting  the 
other  band  of  soldiers,  the  escort  gave  a signal,  and  the 
little  band  of  missionaries  were  hacked  to  pieces.  Their 
death  was  cruel  and  lingering. 

At  Hao-lu  he  heard  that  some  missionaries  had  escaped 
into  the  mountains,  but  had  been  captured  by  Boxers  and 
handed  over  to  officials,  who  had  them  sent  to  Chung- 
ting-fu.  He  was  not  sure  of  their  names  or  fate.  He 
went  on  to  Chung-ting-fu,  where  he  found  the  gates 
closed,  on  account  of  the  numbers  of  Boxers  who  were 
looting  all  round  the  villages  outside.  He  waited  until 
the  city  guards  opened  the  gates  for  a few  minutes  to  let 
some  persons  through,  when  he  slipped  in  and  made  his 
way  to  the  Catholic  Cathedral,  which  was  uninjured, 
though,  as  above  stated,  some  of  the  other  missions  were 
destroyed.  In  the  Cathedral  he  found  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Griffith  and  child,  and  Mr.  Brown,  both  of  the  China 
Inland  Mission ; a Catholic  bishop,  three  priests,  five 
nuns,  all  French;  three  Italians,  one  Belgian  and  one 
Frenchman,  all  railway  engineers. 

Messrs.  Brown  and  Griffith  told  him  they  had  been 
driven  from  place  to  place  until  they  had  at  last  found 


SUFFERING  IN  INLAND  CHINA. 


Ill 


refuge  with  the  priest  at  Chung-ting-fu.  They  gave  in- 
formant a slip  of  calico  with  “This  man  is  trustworthy” 
on  it,  not  caring  to  endanger  his  life  by  giving  him  a 


A VIEW  OF  PAO-TING-FU,  WHERE  MANY  MISSIONARIES 
WERE  MASSACRED. 

letter,  and  told  him  to  come  to  Tientsin  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible and  inform  the  military  authorities  of  their  posi- 
tion. He  arrived  at  Tientsin  late  on  Saturday  night  and 


I 12 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


gave  his  statement  to  the  authorities  on  Sunday  morning. 

We  have  also  obtained  the  following  narrative  from 
one  of  the  unfortunate  Belgian  engineers,  who  has  lately 
reached  here  from  Pao-ting-fu.  No  attempt  has  been 
made  to  describe  the  sufferings  of  the  party,  especially 
the  women,  but  those  who  saw  the  first  party  arrive  and 
can  imagine  what  four  days’  exposure  at  this  hot  season 
without  food  or  drink  and  being  hunted  like  wild  ani- 
mals means  will  realize  how  keen  those  sufferings  were 
The  writer  states : 

“On  Sunday,  May  27th,  four  of  us  were  in  the  train 
due  at  Liu-li-ho  at  4 p.  m.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Cho- 
chow  our  train  stopped.  The  station  master  told  us  the 
Boxers  had  destroyed  the  bridges  and  track.  We  imme- 
diately backed  the  train  to  Kao-pei-tien,  where  we  found 
1,900  soldiers,  under  the  command  of  a general,  who  re- 
fused to  encounter  the  Boxers,  protesting  that  he  had  no 
orders  from  his  chief  on  the  subject.  The  train  then 
started  for  Pao-ting-fu.  The  following  day,  28th,  we, 
seven  other  engineers  and  myself,  left  Pao-ting-fu  on  a 
special  train  at  4 a.  m.,  with  materials  for  repairing  the 
track.  On  our  arrival  at  Kao-pei-tien  a band  of  villagers, 
incited  by  Boxers,  rifled  the  train  and  station,  leaving 
nothing  but  bare  walls.  The  next  day  we  all  left  Pao- 
ting-fu  under  escort — thirty-two  men,  six  women  and 
one  little  girl  of  three  years. 

“About  3 o’clock  we  secured  twelve  sampans,  one  oc- 
cupied by  the  mandarin,  Sun,  and  another  by  the  interpre- 
ter. The  former  left  us  next  day  about  4 p.  m.  Orders 
were  given  by  him  to  shut  in  the  sampans  entirely.  On 
Tuesday,  at  5 a.  m.,  the  Boxers,  who  had  been  waiting 
for  us  at  the  hills,  opened  fire  on  the  boats,  seven  of  our 
party  being  wounded  by  the  volley.  The  soldiers  escort- 


SUFFERING  IN  INLAND  CHINA.  1 1 3 

ing  us  thereupon  decamped,  and  as  soon  as  they  were 
gone  the  boatmen  dropped  anchor  and  refused  to  go  on. 
We  then  went  on  shore  and  faced  the  Boxers,  and  fell 
back  on  the  plains,  where  we  gave  them  battle  and  suc- 
ceeded in  putting  them  to  flight  after  killing  several.  We 
then  discovered  that  four  of  our  party  were  missing.  We 
reached  another  river,  but  were  followed  by  the  mob. 
Two  of  us  swam  out  and  secured  a boat,  in  which  we  got 
the  whole  party  over  to  the  other  bank.  Before  long  we 
discovered  another  mob  on  our  track,  and  had  to  fight 
some  fifty  Boxers.  About  midday  we  again  reached  the 
river.  The  women  were  exhausted,  the  men  for  the 
most  part  demoralized.  We  had  had  nothing  to  eat  or 
drink  since  we  left  the  evening  before.  To  proceed  on 
foot  was  impossible. 

“Though  the  river  was  deep  and  wide,  and  we  were 
much  exhausted,  two  of  us  swam  out  again  and  detached 
a boat  from  a bend  in  the  river.  We  remained  in  this  till 
8 in  the  evening,  the  strongest  of  our  party  going  along 
the  bank  as  an  escort.  Then  we  found  ourselves  between 
two  fires.  Behind  us  came  a small  mob,  while  men  armed 
with  guns  awaited  us  on  either  bank.  We  had  to  fight 
again,  and  though  we  killed  several  we  had  to  retreat 
once  more  to  the  plains,  where  we  succeeded  in  keeping 
up  such  a murderous  fire  that  the  enemy  retreated.  We 
stayed  thereabouts  all  night,  and  started  out  again  the 
next  morning  to  try  and  reach  Tientsin.  Early  on 
Wednesday  morning  we  were  three  times  in  contact  with 
the  Boxers,  and  each  time  we  killed  or  wounded  many. 
About  midday,  on  nearing  a big  village,  we  were  obliged 
to  wage  a regular  battle  again,  the  Boxers  numbering 
more  than  a thousand  and  led  by  a mounted  leader,  who 
was  protected  by  four  gingals.  We  thought  our  last 


TI4 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


hour  had  come,  and  bade  farewell  to  each  other ; but  the 
younger  men  determined  to  make  one  more  effort.  A 
desperate  charge  on  our  part  made  them  abandon  their 
gingals,  and  the  mob  then  fled,  followed  by  our  shots. 
Great  courage  was  shown  by  several  members  of  our 
party.  We  then  resumed  our  tramp  to  Tientsin,  still 
some  200  li  away.  At  about  4 p.  m.  we  had  repulsed  the 
Boxers  several  times,  but  they  kept  reforming.  Each 
time  we  killed  several  of  the  mob,  which  had  the  effect 
of  driving  them  away.  In  the  evening  we  camped  in  a 
marsh,  after  having  crossed  a small  river,  and  resumed 
our  journey  about  3 a.  m.  We  cut  the  lines  of  the  enemy 
about  4 a.  m.,  and  surprised  an  advance  post,  whose  ob- 
ject was  to  stop  our  progress.  But  we  routed  this  de- 
tachment, and  this  was  the  last  encounter  we  had,  and 
finally  reached  Tientsin.” 

ESCAPED  FROM  SHAN-SI. 

A TERRIBLE  STORY. 

Of  all  the  provinces,  Shan-si  holds  the  record  for  dia- 
bolical massacres  and  barbarities.  At  one  time  it  looked 
as  if  not  a single  foreigner  could  by  any  possibility  es- 
cape the  murderous  purpose  of  Yii  Hsien,  whom  our 
Ministers  so  supinely  allowed  to  be  made  governor  there. 
Fortunately,  some  have  escaped.  A party  of  refugees 
from  Shan-si  arrived  here  (Hankow)  to-day,  after  en- 
countering such  sufferings  and  hairbreadth  escapes  as 
will  be  difficult  to  find  a parallel  anywhere. 

The  party  consisted  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  R.  Saunders, 
with  two  children  (other  two  of  their  children  died  on 


SUFFERING  IN  INLAND  CHINA.  115 

the  way),  and  Mr.  A.  Jennings  and  Miss  Guthrie,  all 
from  Ping-yao ; Mr.  E.  J.  Cooper  and  two  children,  from 
Lu-cheng  (Mrs.  Cooper,  Miss  Rice  and  Miss  Houston, 
also  from  that  city,  were  killed  on  the  way  or  died  from 
injuries  received)  ; Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  E.  Glover,  with  two 
children,  and  Miss  Gates,  from  Lu-an.  All  are  members 
of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  and  of  the  nineteen  who 
started  five  perished. 

The  story  they  tell  is  as  follows : “All  was  quiet  in 

Ping-yao  up  to  the  25th  of  June.  The  Magistrate  was 
friendly,  and  had  issued  a proclamation  denouncing  the 
Boxers  and  promising  protection  to  foreigners  and  Chris- 
tians. We  were  aware  that  there  was  trouble  on  the 
route  between  us  and  Tientsin,  but  did  not  know  much 
as  to  what  was  going  on,  or  anticipate  danger.  On  that 
day,  however,  we  received  a letter  from  Tai-yuan,  inclos- 
ing a copy  of  a proclamation  which  had  just  been  issued 
by  Yii  ITsien,  the  governor,  in  which  the  people  were 
informed  that  China  was  at  war  with  foreigners,  and 
that  all  foreign  devils  must  be  destroyed.  On  the  back 
of  that  we  learned  that  our  Magistrate  was  having  his 
favorable  proclamation  taken  down  from  the  walls,  and 
that  a mob  had  already  begun  to  demolish  our  chapel  in 
the  city.  Later  on,  in  the  evening,  a mob  arrived  at  our 
house  in  the  suburb,  and  we  were  driven  to  take  refuge 
in  the  Yamen.  The  Magistrate  declared  he  could  not  help 
us.  He  had  received  orders  no  longer  to  protect  for- 
eigners, and  bade  us  depart  in  peace.  At  length,  in  an- 
swer to  our  entreaties,  he  agreed  to  send  us  to  Tai-yuan, 
150  li  distant,  under  escort,  so  we  started  north  for  the 
capital.  We  got  within  20  li  of  it  without  adventure, 
when  we  met  a native  Christian,  whom  we  knew,  fleeing 
south.  He  implored  us  to  turn  back,  as  the  Inland  Mis- 


n6 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


sion  had  already  been  burned,  the  Roman  Catholic  estab- 
lishment pulled  down,  and  all  the  foreigners  were  in  the 
Baptist  Mission  compound  surrounded  by  a great  mob, 
who  were  threatening  to  burn  it  with  all  who  were  inside. 
On  this  we  turned  back  toward  Ping-yao,  and  our  escort 
at  once  left  us.  We  had  not  much  money,  and  the  people 
demanded  exorbitant  prices  for  everything,  even  for  the 
simple  permission  to  pass  along  the  road.  We  sold  our 
clothes  and  pawned  whatever  would  pawn,  including  our 
wedding  rings,  and  in  this  way  reached  our  station  at 
Lu-cheng,  safe  but  stripped. 

“Lu-cheng  had  not  yet  been  rioted,  but  only  two  days’ 
peace  was  allowed  us,  when,  with  the  friends  there,  we 
had  to  flee  for  our  lives  at  midnight,  with  nothing  but 
one  donkey  load  of  bedding  and  clothes  and  supply  of 
silver,  which  we  divided  up  among  the  party.  Which 
direction  to  take  we  did  not  know.  To  go  north  again 
was  out  of  the  question,  and  eastward  to  Shan-tung  was 
equally  impossible,  so  we  made  for  the  south,  hoping  to 
get  through  Honan  and  Hupeh  to  Hankow.  But  we  had 
only  got  40  li  from  Lu-cheng,  when  we  were  stopped  at 
a large  village  by  some  two  hundred  people,  who  de- 
manded money.  We  could  not  satisfy  them,  so  they 
seized  our  donkey,  and  in  sheer  wanton  mischief  tore  all 
our  bedding  and  clothes  to  pieces.  Then  they  stripped  us 
next,  taking  each  person’s  clothes,  hat,  shoes  and  stock- 
ings, and  little  store  of  silver,  leaving  us  nothing,  ladies 
and  children  alike,  but  a single  pair  of  native  drawers 
each.  In  this  affair  we  lost  the  natives  who  were  accom- 
panying us,  some  of  whom  we  fear  were  killed,  while  we 
were  driven  along  the  road  by  men  with  clubs.  It  was  a 
terrible  situation.  The  blazing  sun  burned  us  to  the 
bone,  and  some  of  us  had  not  so  much  as  a little  piece  of 


SUFFERING  IN  INLAND  CHINA.  II7 

rag  to  wet  and  put  on  the  top  of  our  heads.  At  every 
village  we  were  attacked  and  driven  from  one  to  the  other 
with  blows  and  curses.  The  villages  there  are  very  thick, 
and  before  we  got  clear  of  the  mob  from  one  the  mob 
from  the  next  had  already  arrived  to  take  us  in  hand. 
Neither  food  nor  water  could  be  obtained.  How  we  con- 
trived to  exist  we  hardly  know.  For  days  our  only  sup- 
port was  found  in  the  filthy  puddles  by  the  roadside. 
When  we  reached  a city  it  was  a little  better.  Apparently, 
each  Magistrate  was  anxious  that  we  should  come  to  our 
end  in  the  next  county,  so  when  we  went  to  the  Yamen 
they  would  give  us  a little  food  and  send  an  escort  to  see 
us  safely  over  the  borders  of  that  particular  Yamen’s 
jurisdiction.  Arrived  at  that  point,  the  escort  always  left 
us,  and  we  had  to  struggle  on  as  before. 

“Miss  Rice  was  killed  on  the  road  50  li  north  of  Tseh- 
chau-fu,  in  Shan-si.  That  day  both  she  and  Miss  Houston 
sat  down  on  the  roadside,  saying  they  would  willingly 
die,  but  walk  another  step  they  could  not.  In  the  previous 
city  the  Magistrate  had  given  us  a small  piece  of  silver, 
which  we  had  to  carry  in  our  hands,  having  nowhere  else 
to  put  it.  We  thought  we  might  be  able  to  hire  a cart 
for  these  ladies  with  this  piece  of  silver,  so  two  of  us 
went  to  a village  to  negotiate.  The  villagers  refused  the 
cart,  but  at  the  same  time  they  pounded  our  knuckles 
with  a stick  till  we  dropped  the  silver,  and  then  drove  us 
down  the  road  away  from  our  party.  Just  then  it  began 
to  rain,  and  the  party,  with  the  exception  of  the  two 
ladies,  retired  for  shelter  to  an  empty  guard-house  near. 
There  a mob  fell  upon  them  and  drove  them  on,  and  in 
this  way  the  two  helpless  ladies  got  left  and  were  beaten 
to  death.  Nothing  could  be  done  till  Tseh-chau  was 
reached,  when  the  Magistrate  sent  back  to  inquire.  Miss 


n8 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


Rice  was  found  to  be  already  dead,  but  Miss  Houston, 
although  dreadfully  injured,  was  still  alive.  She  died 
afterward  at  Yun-mung,  in  Hupeh,  and  the  body  was 
brought  on  to  Hankow  for  burial. 

“The  crossing  of  the  Yellow  River  was  one  of  our  most 
trying  experiences.  The  Yamen  had  placed  us  in  carts, 
and  promised  to  send  us  over.  But  as  soon  as  we  were  in 
the  boat  the  carts  drove  away,  and  the  boatmen  ordered 
us  to  land  again,  as  they  declined  pointblank  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  us.  For  two  days  we  sat  on  the  bank 
of  the  Yellow  River,  not  knowing  what  to  do.  We  were 
like  the  Israelites  at  the  Red  Sea.  Pharaoh  was  behind ; 
neither  right  nor  left  was  there  any  retreat  and  no  means 
of  crossing  over.  On  the  third  day  the  boatmen  unex- 
pectedly changed  their  minds  and  took  us  over. 

“The  first  city  we  came  to  south  of  the  river  was 
Chang-chou.  The  Magistrate  here  was  bitterly  anti-for- 
eign, and  said  had  we  only  arrived  twenty-four  hours 
sooner  he  would  have  had  the  pleasure  of  killing  us  all. 
His  orders  were  to  allow  no  foreign  devil  to  escape,  but 
the  Empress-Dowager  had  taken  pity  on  them,  and  he 
had  just  been  instructed  to  have  them  all  sent  as  pris- 
oners into  Hupeh.  Accordingly,  from  this  point  we  were 
sent  on  across  Honan,  from  city  to  city,  as  prisoners,  by 
the  Yamens,  some  in  carts  and  sometimes  mounted  on  the 
hard  wooden  pack  saddles  of  donkeys.  For  food  they 
gave  us  bread  and  water,  and  nowhere  showed  us  any 
kindness  till  we  reached  Sin-yang-chou,  the  last  city  in 
Honan.  Here  we  were  no  longer  treated  as  prisoners, 
and  here  we  met  with  the  Glovers,  from  Lu-an,  who  had 
arrived  there  after  a similar  journey.  The  Hupeh  Mag- 
istrates were  exceedingly  kind.  At  the  first  city,  Ying- 
shan,  we  were  supplied  with  food  and  clothing  and  kept 


'JOVTVJ  3HX  JO  KOOJ  N01XJ3D3H 


120 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


in  the  Yamen  five  days,  as  the  road  south  was  blocked  by 
soldiers  proceeding  to  Peking,  whom  it  would  not  be 
safe  to  meet.  The  Ying-shan  native  Christians  also 
sought  us  out  and  showed  us  great  kindness,  as  they  also 
did  at  the  cities  of  Teh-ngan,  Yun-mung  and  Hsao-kan. 
Mrs.  E.  J.  Cooper  died  at  Ying-shan  of  the  injuries  and 
hardships  undergone,  and  her  body  was  brought  to>  Han- 
kow for  burial.  Mrs.  Glover  was  confined  a few  days 
after  their  arrival  at  Hankow.  The  child  was  dead,  and 
in  a short  time  she,  too,  passed  over  the  river,  and  is  with 
her  blessed  Lord.  Thus  ended  at  Hankow,  on  the  14th 
of  August,  a journey  of  fifty  days’  duration,  of  which  the 
wonder  is  that  a single  one  survived  to  tell  the  tale.” 

The  Rev.  Father  Jeremiah  was  delivered  in  a most 
marked  manner.  His  station  was  at  Pa-shan,  Hunan. 
His  life  was  saved  by  an  old  Chinese  woman,  who, 
though  a heathen,  was  moved  to  pity  by  his  distressed 
condition  and  hid  him  for  six  days  in  a rice  box.  At  the 
end  of  the  six  days  the  disturbance  had  subsided  some- 
what, and  he  managed  to  get  away  to  Hankow. 

The  Rev.  Father  Stephanus  Sette,  who  had  charge  of 
the  station  at  Hing-shui,  Hunan,  was  attacked  on  the 
4th  of  July,  and  he  owes  his  escape  to  the  reverence  of 
the  Chinese  for  the  remains  of  the  dead.  He  was 
dumped  in  a box  somewhat  resembling  a coffin,  and  in 
this  way  was  carried  by  native  Christians  a distance  of 
over  300  Ii  (100  miles)  to  Lien-chau,  the  journey  taking 
about  seven  days.  The  party  was  frequently  stopped  on 
the  way,  but  when  informed  that  the  box  contained  hu- 
man remains,  which  were  being  carried  to  their  native 
country  for  burial,  all  inquiries  were  satisfied, 


SUFFERING  IN  INLAND  CHINA. 


I 2 I 


On  reaching  Lien-chau,  one  of  the  native  Christians 
hunted  up  a boatman,  who  agreed  to  take  him  and  two 
friends  to  Canton  for  $10.  When  he  found  out,  however, 
that  one  of  the  party  was  a European  he  said  he  should 
want  much  more  pay,  and  ultimately  $50  was  agreed 
upon.  During  the  trip  down  the  river  the  boatman,  think- 
ing this  a good  chance  to  make  money,  threatened  to 
have  Father  Sette  thrown  overboard  unless  300  ounces  of 
silver  was  forthcoming.  The  party  had  nothing  like  the 
amount  with  them,  but,  putting  on  a bold  front,  they  in- 
formed the  man  that  he  could  have  double  that  amount 
if  he  took  them  safely  to  Canton,  where,  they  said,  the 
missionary  had  a rich  brother  residing.  He  accordingly 
landed  them  safely  in  Canton  and  accompanied  them  to 
the  head  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Mission  there,  and  sub- 
sequently to  the  French  Consul,  who  gave  him  a fair 
recompense  for  his  trouble. 

******** 

A Boxer  who  saw  the  murder  of  Mr.  Chao,  an  evan- 
gelist of  the  London  Mission,  and  of  Mr.  Liu,  an  inquirer 
of  the  same  mission,  gave  the  following  account  of  the 
occurrence  to  a friend  of  his  in  this  city: 

“On  May  12th  the  Boxers  crossed  the  River  Tsz-tsun, 
about  three  li  from  Kung-tsun,  when  they  met  Mr.  Liu. 
They  recognized  him  as  one  of  the  adherents  of  the 
Christian  Church  and  at  once  attacked  him  and  wounded 
him  with  their  swords.  Then  they  took  him  and  tied  him 
up  securely  to  a tree  on  the  bank  of  the  river.  This  done, 
they  proceeded  to  the  London  Mission  Chapel  at  Kung- 
tsun,  found  Mr.  Chao,  the  evangelist,  bound  his  tumbs 
and  great  toes  tightly  together  and  carried  him  to  a tree 
near  to  that  on  which  Mr.  Liu  was  bound.  They  then 


122 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


chopped  off  Mr.  Liu’s  arms,  disemboweled  him,  cut  off 
his  head  and  cast  all  into  the  river.  Afterward  all  set  to 
work  in  fury  and  hacked  Mr.  Chao  into  pieces  and  threw 
the  fragments  into  the  river.  Then  they  returned  to  the 
chapel  at  Kung-tsun,  looted  the  furniture,  stpashed  the 
inscription  board  to  pieces  and  went  away.” 

The  Christians,  being  forewarned,  left  the  place  the 
day  before  the  murders  took  place.  They  begged  Mr. 
Chao  to  come  away,  but  he  absolutely  refused,  saying: 
“I  was  sent  here  to  work  for  the  Church,  and  it  is  my 
duty  to  stay.  If  I lose  my  life  for  the  sake  of  religion,  I 
shall  be  content,  and  it  will  be  an  honor  to  my  name.” 


STORY  OF  THE  FLIGHT  OF  THE  MEMBERS  OF 
THE  CANADIAN  PRESBYTERIAN  MISSION. 


By  T.  Craigie  Hood. 


Chapter  XII. 

Everything  seemed  perfectly  quiet  in  North  Honan 
when,  on  June  4th,  Drs.  McClure  and  Menzies,  with 
their  families,  and  Dr.  Margaret  S.  Wallace,  set  out  by 
houseboat  for  Pei-tai-ho  via  Tientsin.  We  had  no  thought 
of  being  disturbed,  except,  perhaps,  that  a famine,  whose 
certain  coming  became  every  day  more  evident  as  the 
rain  held  off,  might  cause  us  trouble.  Scarcely  a week 
had  gone  by  when  news  came  to  us  of  the  Pao-ting-fu 
trouble,  and  we  found  our  mail  service  cut  off  and  our 
communication  with  the  outside  world  broken. 

On  June  14th  we  received,  via  Liu-ching,  a telegram, 
which  ran  somewhat  as  follows:  “Traveling  toward 

Tientsin  unsafe;  foreign  troops  rescuing  Peking;  all  es- 
cape south.”  On  June  15th  a local  disturbance  arose. 
That  morning  a Chinese  woman  was  washing  the  up- 
stairs windows  of  Mr.  Mackenzie’s  new  foreign-built 
house  at  Chu-wang,  when  some  women  on  the  street 
caught  sight  of  her  and  immediately  started  the  report 


124 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


that  just  as  the  clouds  were  gathering  and  the  rain  begin- 
ning to  fall  the  “foreign  devils”  were  seen  waving  a cloth 
with  strange  characters  on  it,  and  this  drove  the  clouds 
away.  A fruit-seller  spread  the  report  through  the  town, 
and  soon  a mob  of  about  1,000  people  were  at  the  com- 
pound gate  clamoring  for  admittance,  and  could  scarcely 
be  restrained  by  the  officials.  The  days  that  followed 
were  anxious  ones.  Every  few  days  the  mob  would  be- 
come frantic  and  threaten  the  lives  of  the  missionaries. 
Reports  from  the  north  of  alleged  Boxer  successes,  and 
a report  that  Dr.  McClure  and  party  had  been  murdered, 
added  fuel  to  the  fire.  On  June  25th  we  received  a tele- 
gram from  Dr.  McClure,  who  had  escaped  with  his  party 
to  Chi-nan-fu,  having  been  stopped  by  the  Pang-chwang 
missionaries  in  time  to  prevent  their  running  into  the 
death-trap  before  them.  This  telegram  said:  “Powers 

occupy  Taku ; consuls  urge  all  foreigners  leave;  come  im- 
mediately to  Chi-nan ; steamer  waiting.”  This,  added  to 
the  local  troubles,  decided  us  to  leave.  We  were  com- 
pelled to  take  the  southern  route.  On  June  27th  the  Chu- 
wang  friends  left  their  station  and  came  to  Shang-te. 
They  left  not  a day  too  soon.  The  night  before  had  been 
spent  by  them  in  a Chinese  home  that  was  kindly  thrown 
open  to  them.  The  mob  had  already  begun  to  loot  some 
of  the  houses  that  night,  and  next  morning,  a couple  of 
hours  after  they  left  their  houses,  dispensaries,  hospital 
buildings  and  chapel  were  being  torn  down.  We  left 
Chang-te  with  ten  carts  early  next  morning,  June  28th, 
having  been  provided  with  a good  escort.  On  July  1st 
we  reached  the  Yellow  River,  and  there  joined  the  mem- 
bers of  our  third  station,  Hsin-chen.  They  were  travel- 
ing with  Messrs.  Jameson,  Reid  and  Fisher,  of  the  Pe- 
king Syndicate,  who  had  a good  escort. 


FLIGHT  OF  MISSIONARIES. 


125 


All  that  week  we  wended  our  way  to  the  southward. 
On  Saturday,  July  7th,  we  reached  a region  which 
seemed  to  be  very  much  disturbed.  Our  escort  had  grad- 
ually dwindled  down  till  we  had  none  at  all.  Mr.  Jame- 
son felt  that  his  escort  was  not  sufficient  to  protect  both 
parties,  so  he  decided  to  leave  our  party  at  Hsin-tien, 
while  he  pressed  on  30  li  to  Nan-yang-fu  to  ask  for  an 
escort  for  us  and  for  his  own  party.  We  had  scarcely 
got  settled  in  our  inn  at  Hsin-tien  when  the  mayor  of  the 
town  came  to  us  and  told  us  that  a gang  of  about  one 
hundred  were  going  to  attack  and  rob  us.  He  advised 
us  to  buy  them  off  with  a few  tens  of  silver,  but  we  re- 
fused, for  we  felt  that  this  would  not  insure  us  against 
them  even  then  taking  what  might  be  left.  We  barri- 
caded our  inn  doors  with  carts,  etc.,  and  prepared  to  de- 
fend ourselves  as  best  we  could,  meanwhile  sending  word 
of  the  threat  to  Mr.  Jameson.  The  night  passed  without 
our  being  disturbed.  About  8 o’clock  next  morning  word 
came  from  Mr.  Jameson  that  the 'official  would  neither 
see  him  nor  give  him  nor  us  an  escort.  We  must  all  get 
through  as  best  we  could. 

We  left  the  inn  at  Hsin-tien  at  about  8.30  a.  m.  The 
streets  were  packed  with  people,  and  over  the  city  gate 
hung  hundreds  of  spectators  upon  the  wall.  The  crowd 
outside  the  gate  has  been  estimated  at  10,000.  But  these 
were  not  the  fiends,  except  that  now  we  think  they  took 
a fiendish  delight  in  watching  us  pass  on  to  what  they 
thought  was  our  doom.  Outside  of  this  crowd  we  were 
passing  along  an  ordinary  deep  Chinese  road,  where  there 
was  showered  down  upon  us  a perfect  hailstorm  of 
stones,  bricks,  clubs,  etc.,  etc.  The  carters  whipped  up 
the  animals  and  made  a mad  dash  to  get  through,  but  the 
mob  shot  and  slashed  and  pounded  the  mules  till  they 


126 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS 


were  killed  or  disabled,  and  thus  brought  us  to  a stand- 
still. My  cart  was  wedged  in  among  four  or  five  others. 
My  first  glance  about  me  told  me  that  the  fearful  fight 
was  on.  The  swords  and  spears  and  clubs  were  now 
turned,  not  against  the  mules,  but  against  the  mission- 
aries. In  front  of  me  Mr.  Griffith  was  sitting  in  his  cart, 
the  blood  streaming  from  his  forehead  and  hands.  The 
second  stone  thrown  at  him  had  smashed  his  revolver  in 
pieces.  A sweep  with  a sword  had  been  aimed  at  his 
head,  but  his  hat  prevented  it  making  a very  deep  gash. 
He  sprang  from  his  cart,  and,  seizing  a club  that  lay 
near,  defended  himself  against  the  brute  who  was  attack- 
ing him.  On  my  right  Mr.  Mackenzie  was  valiantly  de- 
fending his  wife  and  little  son,  while  his  upper  garments 
were  literally  saturated  with  his  own  blood.  On  the  left 
was  Mr.  Goforth,  being  beaten  over  the  head  with  clubs, 
any  blow  from  which  was  enough  to  kill  him  had  he  not 
been  able  to  ward  them  off  to  some  extent.  When  I 
glanced  toward  him  again  the  blood  was  sti  earning  from 
an  ugly  sword  gash  in  the  back  of  his  head  and  from  a 
cut  in  his  left  arm.  The  ladies  and  children  had  been 
ordered  from  the  carts,  and  stood  in  different  places, 
while  the  stones  and  bricks  flew  about  them  in  all  direc- 
tions. I did  not  see  Dr.  Leslie  attacked.  I am  thankful 
I did  not  see  that  awful  hacking. 

Well,  all  this  and  far  more  (for  I haven’t  said  anything 
about  the  soldiers,  who  fought  so  nobly  for  us  and  who 
were  slashed  and  stabbed  and  trampled  under  their 
horses’  feet  right  before  my  eyes)  passed  before  me  in 
far  less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  it.  Stones  hurled  in  at 
the  front  of  my  cart  told  me  that  it  was  time  to  leave  it. 
I got  down  and  seized  a rock  and  thought  that  with  this 
I would  try  to  keep  the  fiends  at  a safe  distance.  In  a 


FLIGHT  OF  MISSIONARIES. 


127 


few  moments  there  came  a lull  in  the  fight.  All  seemed 
to  be  busy  with  the  looting,  except  the  brute  who  had  at- 
tacked Mr.  Griffith  and  had  also  attacked  Mr.  Mackenzie 
several  times. 

He  still  stood  and  threatened  to  kill  us,  while  he  swung 
his  sword  about  his  head  in  the  fiercest  fashion  possible. 
1 think  I never  saw  such  a hellish  look  on  a human  face. 
At  last  lie  snatched  a pig-skin  trunk  that  Mr.  Griffith 
threw  to  him,  snatched  it  as  a ravenous  wolf  would 
snatch  a child,  and  ran  off  to  his  companions  to  see  what 
it  contained.  Some  of  our  number  had  already  escaped 
from  the  scene  of  conflict,  and  we  who  were  left,  taking 
advantage  of  the  lull,  gathered  ourselves  together  into  a 
little  company  and  began  to  walk  slowly  away.  We  were 
twice  surrounded  by  men  with  swords  and  daggers  and 
compelled  to  give  up  our  watches,  rings,  etc.  They  even 
took  parts  of  our  clothing,  leaving  us  barely  enough  to 
cover  ourselves.  It  was  an  hour  or  so  before  we  knew 
that  every  member  of  the  party  had- got  away  alive.  Mr. 
Goforth  was  quite  seriously  wounded.  He  and  his  family 
were  taken  in  by  a Mohammedan  family  and  kindly 
cared  for.  Dr.  Leslie  was  very  seriously  wounded.  Mr. 
Mackenzie’s  and  Mr.  Griffith’s  wounds  were  of  a superfi- 
cial nature.  The  rest  of  us  (seven  adults  and  five  chil- 
dren) had  escaped  practically  without  a bruise  or  a 
scratch.  Dr.  Leslie  had  been  hacked  twelve  or  fifteen 
times.  After  he  had  received  all  these  wounds,  and  he 
and  Mrs.  Leslie  were  away  from  the  carts  altogether,  a 
fiend  came  up  to  attack  them  again,  and  would  have  killed 
them  (the  doctor  surely  couldn’t  bear  much  more), 
when,  raising  his  revolver  in  his  left  hand,  the  doctor 
sent  the  last  bullet  he  had  into  the  fiend’s  face  and  drove 
him  away.  Just  at  this  stage  my  “boy”  whipped  out  one 


128 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


of  the  carts,  picked  up  one  of  the  ladies  and  one  of  the 
children  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Leslie,  and  thus  they  escaped, 
after  having  passed  through  the  ordeal  of  being  searched 
in  the  way  we  had  been.  When  we  overtook  the  cart  the 
doctor  had  lost  so  much  blood  that  he  could  scarcely 
speak.  One  of  the  ladies  tore  her  underskirt  into  band- 
ages and  Dr.  Dow  hastened  to  bind  up  his  wounds.  The 
carter  took  him  on  for  five  or  six  li  and  then  declared  he 
would  go  no  farther.  We  had  to  carry  the  doctor  into  a 
small  guard-house  by  the  roadside  and  lay  him  on  some 
straw  mats.  There  we  were,  with  no  food,  no  “cash,” 
and  no  means  of  going  forward. 

Toward  evening  a military  official  from  Nan-yang-fu 
and  twenty  or  thirty  horse-soldiers  came  along,  and  we 
hoped  they  would  help  us.  Word  had  been  sent  to  the 
officials  of  the  robbery,  and  these  soldiers  had  been  sent 
out  to  look  into  the  matter.  Shortly  after  they  reached 
us  our  carts  unexpectedly  came  along,  and  we  got  on 
them,  expecting  that  the  soldiers  would  escort  us  into  the 
city  as  our  only  hope  of  getting  money.  But  instead  of 
escorting  us,  they  deliberately  rode  off  and  left  us  to  get 
along  as  best  we  could.  The  crowd  from  the  city  came 
out  for  half  a mile  or  more  to  meet  us,  and  as  we  passed 
on  it  gathered  fiends  as  a flood  gathers  debris.  We  man- 
aged to  get  into  an  inn,  but  we  weren’t  the  only  ones  who 
got  in.  Officials  were  sent  for,  but  would  do  nothing  to 
keep  the  crowds  out.  They  ordered  us  to  leave  at  once. 
We  demanded  (we  could  afford  to  talk  strongly — it  was 
a case  of  desperation)  food  and  money  and  protection. 
They  brought  us  food  and  nineteen  tiao  (about  $10),  and 
promised  an  escort  of  twenty  horses  and  forty  foot-sol- 
diers and  said  we  must  go  at  once.  We  refused  to  move 
until  the  escort  should  appear ; we  waited  in  vain,  at  least 


FLIGHT  OF  MISSIONARIES. 


129 


as  far  as  that  number  of  soldiers  was  concerned.  At  last 
eight  or  ten  foot-soldiers  appeared,  and  as  it  was  after 
midnight,  and  things  were  black,  we  concluded  we  had 
better  start.  The  people  told  us  we  would  not  be  allowed 
to  get  out  alive.  The  soldiers  and  officials  went  to  our 
servants  and  tried  to  persuade  them  to  leave  us,  as  we 
were  all  to  be  killed.  The  Roman  Catholics  of  the  place 
were  defending  themselves  in  a “cliai,”  and  we  were  to  be 
murdered  before  this  to  terrify  them.  Why  we  were  al- 
lowed to  escape  we  shall  perhaps  never  know.  In  getting 
out  of  the  city  Mr.  Griffith  and  Paul  Goforth  (aged  nine) 
were  mysteriously  separated  from  the  party,  and  we  saw 
nothing  more  of  them  till  midnight  next  night,  when  they 
managed  to  overtake  us.  That  day  we  passed  through  a 
very  disturbed  region.  Thousands  of  people  rushed 
wildly  through  the  country.  They  would  gather  in  mobs 
by  the  roadside  and  wait  our  coming.  If  we  were  stopped 
once  that  day,  we  were  stopped  thirty  times,  and  would 
have  been  robbed  as  often  had  we  had  anything  they 
could  take.  The  carters  made  matters  worse  by  driving 
at  a mad  rate.  Imagine,  if  you  can,  what  Dr.  Leslie  must 
have  suffered  as  he  lay  flat  in  the  cart,  his  head  bumping 
over  the  axle,  and  his  wounded  limbs  jolting  about.  Im- 
agine what  the  women  and  children  suffered,  for  all  the 
carts  were  practically  without  quilts,  cushions,  etc.  That 
night,  at  Hing-yie-hsien,  the  officials  offered  us  four  tiao. 
Mr.  Jameson  had  heard  of  the  robbery,  and  immediately 
sent  a man  back  to  meet  11s  with  fifty  taels  of  silver,  and 
this  reached  us  in  time  to  enable  us  to  refuse  the  four 
tiao.  However,  those  officials  gave  us  a splendid  escort, 
and  next  day,  although  thousands  of  people  lined  the 
roads,  neither  man  nor  boy  dared  open  mouth  against  us, 


130 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


so  well  did  those  soldiers  do  their  work.  We  reached 
Fan-cheng  that  evening,  Tuesday,  July  ioth,  about  8 
o’clock,  just  fourteen  days  from  the  time  the  start  was 
made.  The  members  of  the  Peking  Syndicate  supplied  us 
liberally  with  silver,  and  they  and  the  Hsin-chen  friends 
gave  us  what  clothing  they  could  spare.  There  was  a 
real  “community  of  goods”  for  the  remainder  of  the  trip. 

Both  parties  boarded  the  houseboats  shortly  after  mid- 
night, and  were  escorted  down  the  Han  River  by  two 
Chinese  gunboats,  provided  by  Chang  Chih-tung.  We 
reached  Hankow  in  about  ten  days,  having  been  towed 
for  the  last  300  li  by  a steam  launch  sent  out  by  the  con- 
suls at  Hankow. 

The  flight  had  been  hard,  but  its  lessons  for  us  were 
not  a few.  We  were  shown  how  helpless  we  are  and 
what  a mighty  God  is  ours.  We  understand  more  fully 
then  we  ever  before  understood  the  greatness  of  that 
greatest  of  all  the  great  needs — the  need  of  giving  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  heathen,  especially  the 
Chinese  heathen. 


ARE  THE  MISSIONARIES  RESPONSIBLE? 


Chapter  XIII. 

Certain  shortsighted  people  attribute  all  the  present 
trouble  to  the  pernicious  influence  of  missionaries.  Some, 
no  doubt,  have  made  mistakes,  but  to  those  who  take  the 
trouble  to  go  into  the  matter  thoroughly  there  is  no  deny- 
ing the  fact  that  the  good  done  by  far  outweighs  the  evil. 
The  patience,  devotion  and  heroism  with  which  the  mis- 
sionaries, both  men  and  women,  have  met  and  endured  the 
afflictions  of  the  last  two  months  cannot  but  be  admired. 
It  has  been  well  said  that  the  I itlr chapter  of  Hebrews  is 
being  rewritten  in  China. 

The  Chinese  Recorder  also  asks  and  answers  the  ques- 
tion thus  : “Are  the  missionaries  responsible  for  the  pres- 
ent crisis?  Yes  and  no.  If  furnishing  good  literature, 
books  on  history,  astronomy,  mathematics,  philosophy, 
morals  and  religion,  many  of  which  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Emperor  and  others,  and  caused  the  reform  edicts 
— books  and  literature,  the  tendency  of  which,  like  Paul’s 
preaching  was  to  turn  such  a country  as  China  ‘upside 
down,’  then  the  missionaries  are  responsible,  though  we 
can  scarcely  see  how  they  are  to  blame.” 

A writer  to  the  “Celestial  Empire”  speaks  forth  the 
truth  boldly,  and  it  is  worth  repeating.  He  says : 

“Sir:  The  blind  objections  to  missionaries  being  made 


1 32 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


by  some  writers  just  now  exhibit  a want  of  thought  and 
discrimination.  Not  a missionary  myself,  I,  from  the 
purely  commercial  standpoint,  appreciate  their  devoted  la- 
bors, their  moral  example  and  influence.  The  great  ma- 
jority of  the  Protestant  missionaries  wisely  have  refrained 
from  assuming  or  desiring  any  official  status,  and  in  doing 
so  have  avoided  making  themselves  stumbling  blocks  to 
the  non-Christian  natives,  as  the  Roman  Catholics  have 
done. 

“But  the  foreign  resident  who  now  rushes  into  print 
demanding  that  missionary  labors  cease  in  China  is  want- 
ing in  the  exercise  of  common  sense.  The  missionary, 
with  good  reason,  might  retort  that  all  commercial  men 
and  civilian  foreigners  should  be  deported,  because  the 
lives  of  a number  of  them  in  the  treaty  ports  are  an  out- 
rage on  all  the  best  ideas  of  the  natives  and  a libel  on' 
Western  civilization.  In  the  Boxer  placards  it  has  been 
said  that  ‘foreign  men  disregard  all  the  human  obliga- 
tions and  their  women  commit  adultery.’  Now,  in  no  in- 
stance can  this  be  asserted  of  the  missionaries  in  China, 
but,  unfortunately,  it  does  hold  true  of  a certain  minority 
among  the  foreign  residents.  Instead  of  clamoring  for 
the  expulsion  of  all  foreign  residents  because  of  the  sins 
of  the  few,  the  missionaries  are  level-headed  enough  to 
see  that  what  is  needed  is  not  expulsion,  but  decided  pro- 
test by  all  those  foreigners  who  desire  the  higher  stand- 
ards of  their  respective  nations  to  be  emphasized  in  this 
land.  The  protest  should  be  made  privately  and  publicly, 
both  in  and  out  of  the  press,  so  that  the  natives  around 
us  can  plainly  see  that  foreign  public  opinion  does  not 
for  a moment  condone  what  its  highest  ideals  distinctly 
condemn.  The  man  or  woman  of  foreign  birth  who  lives 


A TYriCAL  "BOXER,”  WITH  ALL  HIS  IMPLEMENTS  OF 

warfare. 


134 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


an  immoral  life,  the  foreigner  who  ill-treats  a coolie  as  he 
would  not  dare  for  an  instant  to  treat  a common  cabman ; 
the  Westerner,  be  he  an  ordinary  private  individual  or  a 
city  father,  who  encourages,  establishes  or  patronizes  lot- 
teries ; in  fact,  any  among  the  foreign  communities  in 
China  who  any  way  lower  the  standard  of  life  they  have 
in  the  home  lands  been  taught  to  respect  and  aim  at,  do 
more  to  prepare  the  way  for  corrupt  officials,  bent  on 
stirring  up  the  ignorant  people  of  China,  than  all  the  mis- 
takes of  all  the  missionaries  put  together.  The  writer  is 
well  aware  that  among  certain  conceited,  sick-brained 
circles  it  is  fashionable  to  deride  the  methods,  objects  and 
personal  characters  of  missionaries ; and  while  not  claim- 
ing for  them  absolute  perfection,  nor  asserting  that  they 
are  free  altogether  of  minor  errors,  it  is  certain  that,  tak- 
ing them  in  a body,  the  percentage  of  those  among  them 
that  are  actuated  by  selfish  motives  is  minute.  The  num- 
ber among  them  who  fail  to  give  an  example  of  pure 
morality  in  their  stations  in  the  interior  and  elsewhere  is 
less  than  the  proportion  of  similar  failures  among  the  es- 
tablished clergy  of  home  lands. 

‘‘Even  the  Consular  services  owe  to  missionary  work- 
ers in  the  past,  as  also  to  several  who  are  still  among  us. 
But  when  consideration  is  carefully  given  to  the  fact  that 
all  over  the  interior,  in  places  where  the  foreigner  is 
otherwise  unknown,  he  is  first  introduced  in  the  person  of 
a missionary,  who  lives  quietly  a moral  life,  so  that  all  his 
immediate  neighbors,  on  close  acquaintance,  acquire  a 
favorable  knowledge  of  an  individual  foreigner,  and  from 
that  particular  knowledge  argue  favorably  in  general  of 
foreigners. 

“All  over  the  empire,  again  and  again,  in  times  of 


ARE  MISSIONARIES  RESPONSIBLE?  135 

trouble  and  riot,  the  immediate  acquaintances  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, as  well  as  the  converts,  have  stood  by  their  for- 
eign teachers  at  the  peril  of  their  own  lives,  proving  con- 
clusively the  good  opinions  won  by  the  example  of  their 
lives  and  teachings.  All  through  the  horrid  riots  of 
1891-2  the  native  converts  remained  faithful,  not  only  to 
their  missionary  pastors  (laying  down,  in  some  instances, 
their  own  lives  to  save  the  foreigner’s),  hut  also  were 
stanch  to  their  faith,  in  spite  of  all  tortures  and  persecu- 
tions, too  horrible  to  relate  in  detail.  Such  centres  of  en- 
lightenment as  to  what  foreigners  are  and  have  to  give 
the  Chinese  open  up  the  country  ready  for  trade,  and 
again  and  again  can  the  demand  for  foreign  goods  be 
traced  directly  to  the  influence  of  missionaries  in  the 
interior. 

‘‘If  trade  follows  the  flag,  it  is  because  the  flag  is  usu- 
ally made  known  by  a good  introduction  on  the  part  of 
missionaries.  Withdraw  your  missionaries  and  send  into 
the  interior  your  young,  rowdy  man,  with  his  ‘sleeping 
dictionary’  concubines,  his  drunkenness  and  bullying  con- 
duct, and  see  how  much  worse  your  trade  and  reputation 
will  soon  be.  It  is  high  time  that  we  dropped  all  mad  talk 
about  missionaries,  and  instead  of  trying  to  make  scape- 
goats of  any  one  section  of  foreign  residents,  while  en- 
deavoring to  reform  all  those  evils  that  prejudice  us  in 
the  eyes  of  the  natives,  show  that  we  know  that  behind  all 
anti-foreign  agitation  is  the  Peking  Government,  as  chief 
instigator  and  offender.  The  day  will  never  come  when 
missionaries  are  withdrawn  from  China,  but  if  it  did,  the 
writer,  as  a commercial  man,  would  venture  to  prophesy, 
with  certainty,  the  early  ruin  of  foreign  trade  with  China. 
The  criticism  of  their  objects  comes  ill  from  men  whose 


136 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXEKS. 


whole  heritage  of  worth  is  the  main  result  of  similar  prop- 
aganda in  their  own  native  lands  in  the  past.  At  the 
foundation  of  much  ill-natured,  ignorant  criticism  of  mis- 
sionaries, and  the  real  cause  of  the  lying  reports  that  are 
spread  abroad,  is  an  uncomfortable  feeling,  resulting  from 
the  critics  often  living  in  a manner  that  would,  if  known, 
shut  them  out  from  their  own  parental  roof.  Where  mis- 
sionaries live  in  the  interior,  away  from  all  foreign  civil- 
ians or  officials,  there  are  no  houses  of  ill-fame  kept  for  or 
by  foreigners.  In  such  places  there  are  no  lotteries 
licensed  by  and  supported  by  foreigners.  There  no  na- 
tives are  cuffed  and  kicked,  for  there  are  no  rowdy  for- 
eign ‘drunks’  to  drag  their  nation’s  character  in  the  mire. 
Ninety  per  cent,  of  the  foreigners  who  glibly  calumniate 
the  missionaries  have  absolutely  no  real  knowledge  of  the 
subject  on  which  they  air  their  gaseous  opinions.  Few 
of  them  have  ever  visited  a mission  station  or  seen  a na- 
tive convert.  If  they  had,  the  writer  can  testify  that  often 
the  native  convert’s  character  and  life  would  cause  many 
a foreigner  to  hang  his  head  in  shame  for  better  oppor- 
tunities unavailed  of.  When  ‘loaves  and  fishes’  are  quoted 
as  the  raison  d’etre  of  missionaries  being  in  China,  it 
never  occurs  to  the  uncultured,  ill-educated  carpers  that 
they  should  first  make  sure  of  the  past  history  of  those 
whom  they  so  readily  vilify,  or  they  might  discover  that 
never  was  assertion  more  unfounded  and  that  many  now 
in  the  mission  field  have  given  up  freely  more  than  their 
small-brained  mud-flingers  are  ever  likely  to  attain. 
‘When  the  wine  is  in  the  fool  comes  out,’  and  hotel  and 
club  bar  critics  we  will  waste  no  more  space  on.” 


THE  FUTURE  OUTLOOK. 


Chapter  XIV. 

It  is  believed  by  some  who  understand  the  Chinese 
and  the  present  situation  in  their  land  that  the  difficulties 
are  only  beginning,  and  that  there  are  yet  many  months, 
and  perhaps  years,  of  trial  for  Christians,  both  native  and 
foreign,  who  undertake  to  propagate  the  Gospel  in  China. 
Many  are  puzzled  about  the  whole  situation.  To'  others 
it  seems  clear  that  the  cost  of  life  and  treasure  is  so  great 
that  the  end  gained  by  preaching  Christ  to  the  Chinese 
does  not  justify  it.  The  heart  of  tire  believer  feels  faint 
as  it  dwells  upon  the  past  of  suffering  and  sorrow,  and  it 
is  tempted  to  tremble  as  it  looks  into  the  future.  It  feels 
keenly  the  disappointment  that  a prosperous  work  has 
fallen,  and  is  moved  with  sympathy  for  the  suffering  vic- 
tims of  pagan  cruelties.  Thus  touched,  it  is  not  out  of 
place  to  look  up  to  Him  who  worketh  all  things  according 
to  the  counsel  of  His  own  will  and  reverently  ask,  “Why 
does  He  permit  all  this  sorrow  and  pain  and  bloodshed?” 

This  is  no  new  question,  for  the  Church  has  not  forgot- 
ten the  terrible  price  in  human  blood  that  was  paid  for 
the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  the  Roman  Empire, 
and  the  fierce  measures  which  were  taken  for  the  exter- 
mination of  the  new  religion.  Evangelical  churches  do 
not  allow  their  children  to  forget  the  firmness  with  which 
our  fathers  stood  for  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  and  endured 


138  CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 

the  fiendish  tortures  of  the  “Holy  Inquisition.”  Every 
glorious  page  in  the  history  of  the  Church  is  written  in 
blood,  and  this  is  not  the  time  to  count  God’s  authority 
less  absolute,  or  His  message  to  the  lost  less  worthy  of  a 
martyr’s  blood  than  in  other  centuries. 

It  does  not  diminish  the  glory  of  those  who  have  suf- 
fered that  the  cause  of  their  persecution  is  largely  the 
political  aggression  of  the  Western  nations  and  the  intol- 
erable meddling  of  Romish  agents  in  the  internal  affairs 
of  China.  The  charge  against  Christ  was  the  false  one  of 
sedition.  Nero’s  persecution  was  founded  on  the  untruth- 
ful story  that  the  Christians  had  set  fire  to  Rome,  and 
missionary  martyrs  of  recent  years  have  frequently  suf- 
fered because  the  natives  confounded  them  with  the 
traders  who  had  shamefully  mistreated  them.  It  is  there- 
fore in  keeping  with  history  to  recognize  this  uprising 
against  Christians,  because  of  false  ideas  of  their  work, 
as  instigated  by  the  father  of  lies,  who  has  been  the  author 
of  former  persecutions  as  well. 

The  Greek  word  for  witness  is  “Martyr,”  and  it  has 
come  to  mean  one  who  dies  for  his  belief,  simply  because 
so  many  chose  to  do  that  rather  than  deny  the  Lord.  The 
courage,  joy  and  patience  of  martyrs  have  touched  the 
hearts  of  millions,  and  their  blood  has  truly  been  the  seed 
of  the  Church ; and  China  like  Europe,  is  to  be  blessed 
with  an  abundance  of  such  testimony  as  will  never  cease 
to  speak  of  the  sincerity  of  the  witness  and  the  power  of 
God  to  keep  His  people  faithful  and  sustain  them  in  trial. 

To  the  Foreign  Ministers  the  Empress  Dowager  was 
the  dc  facto  ruler  of  China,  and  that  was  enough  for 
them.  They  also  recognized  that  the  Emperor,  Kwang 
Hsu,  was  the  dc  jure  ruler,  as  they  showed  recently  by 
insisting  on  being  received  in  audience  by  him,  and  pro- 


EMPEROR  K WANG- HSU. 


( From  a recent  photograph.) 


THE  FUTURE  OUTLOOK. 


141 


viding  that  it  should  be  understood  that  the  visit  of  their 
wives  to  the  Empress  Dowager  was  merely  a social  func- 
tion, with  no  political  significance.  The  Empress  Dow- 
ager was  one  of  the  secondary  wives  of  the  Emperor 
Hsien  P'eng,  and  the  mother  of  the  Emperor  Tung  Chi. 
After  the  death  of  Tung  Chi  she  acted  as  Regent  during 
the  minority  of  her  nephew,  the  present  Emperor  Kwang 
Hsu ; but  as  soon  as  he  was  old  enough  to  take  the  reins 
of  government  her  rights  of  ruler  ceased  entirely,  and  the 
legations  knew,  as  well  as  every  one  else  in  China  knew, 
that  she  was  simply  usurping  the  throne  of  Kwang  Hsu, 
who  was  only  kept  alive  because  she  feared  the  wrath  of 
the  people. 

The  Emperor,  as  soon  as  he  attained  to  years  of  dis- 
cretion, had  begun  to  take  an  unexpected  interest  in  the 
affairs  of  his  great  heritage.  By  chance  thrown  in  the 
way  of  learning  English,  and  deeply  affected  by  the  mis- 
erable part  his  country  had  played,  determined  to  study 
for  himself  the  cause  of  its  sudden  decadence,  and  to  pre- 
pare himself  for  the  task,  determined  to  study  the  lan- 
guage of  these  wonderful  Outlanders,  who  had  proved 
themselves  so  far  ahead  in  all  the  arts  that  serve  to  build 
up  nations. 

He  recognized  that  what  his  country  most  required 
was  an  honest  administration,  yet  about  his  Court  there 
were  few  on  whom  he  could  depend. 

The  war  with  Japan  he  saw  had  exposed  the  weakness 
of  his  country,  and  toward  the  removal  of  the  foul  blot 
which  that  unhappy  contest  had  exposed  the  young  mon- 
arch devoted  all  his  energies.  He  saw,  as  every  sensible 
man  has  seen,  that  Japan  owed  her  remarkable  success  to 
the  manner  in  which  she  had  assimilated  the  warlike  les- 


142 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


sons  of  the  West,  and  that  if  China  wished  to  emerge 
from  her  slough  of  despond  she  must  adopt  like  meas- 
ures. He  was  statesman  enough  to  comprehend  that  it 
was  not  in  the  mere  imitation  of  foreign  forms  and  prac- 
tices that  Japan  had  been  able  to  raise  herself  from  in- 
significance to  a position  but  little  behind  the  first-class 
Powers,  but  that  her  real  success  lay  in  the  careful  manner 
in  which  she  had  studied  and  applied  the  springs  of  great- 
ness. What  Japan  had  done  China,  he  argued  with  him- 
self, could  do ; and  to  this  end  he  devoted  all  his  ener- 
gies. To  get  rid  of  the  ignoble  crowd  he  saw  was  the 
first  necessity,  but  it  was  equally  necessary  to  surround 
himself  with  honest  and  capable  men. 

The  events  succeeding  the  coup  d’etat  disclosed  the 
men  whom  he  had  made  his  choice,  and,  compared  with 
the  crowd  that  surround  the  intruding  ex-Regent,  they 
are  as  light  to  darkness.  Men  like  Kang  and  Chang  may 
not  have  had  the  capacity  or  the  knowledge  to  grasp  the 
more  complicated  problems  of  State,  but  they  were  at 
least  honest  and  earnest  men — and  honest  and  earnest 
men  are  just  the  want  of  the  country,  which  has  grown 
weary  of  the  shifting  and  shallow  opportunism  of  political 
jugglers. 

Unfortunately,  Kwang  Hsu  worked  without  his  host. 
He  was  too  honest  and  earnest  a man  to  believe  that  hu- 
man nature  could  sink  to  the  depths  it  had  done  in  the 
instance  of  the  woman  who  had  just  laid  down  the  Re- 
gency after  years  of  failure  and  misgovernment.  Fo" 
himself  he  bore  no  ill-will  to  the  arch  fiend  who  had 
blasted  his  life,  but  who  had  now,  nominally  at  least,  re- 
tired from  the  charge  she  had  disgraced.  But  the  woman 
who  was  to  be  superseded  for  her  crimes  recognized  no 


THE  FUTURE  OUTLOOK. 


143 


such  lofty  code  of  morals  as  did  the  young  sovereign, 
and,  apprehensive  of  the  just  punishment  due  to  her  in- 
iquities falling  at  last  upon  her  head,  seized  the  Emperor 
and  confined  him  to  an  inner  room  and  assumed  herself 
the  reins  of  the  government. 

England,  the  most  interested  of  all  the  States  having 
relations  with  China,  weakly  offered  no  objection,  and 
stood  humbly  bv  while  the  tragedy  was  being  prepared 
under  her  very  eyes. 

The  woman  whom  the  misplaced  indifference  of  the 
British  Government  permitted  unchallenged  to  usurp  the 
throne  of  China  no  sooner  found  herself  in  a position  to 
do  so  than  she  turned  all  the  venom  and  spite  of  which 
even  she  was  capable  against  England,  joined  hands  with 
the  Boxers  against  the  world — and  all  know  the  misery 
and  death  that  have  followed. 

With  an  Emperor  who  is  weak  in  body  and  mind,  and 
with  the  crafty  and  wicked  Empress  Dowager,  what  is 
the  solution  to  this  Chinese  puzzle-?  The  almost  universal 
opinion  of  all  missionaries  and  a majority  of  all  business 
men  in  China  is  that  the  Emperor  should  be  restored  to 
his  throne  and  then  surround  him  with  men  of  the  reform 
party  and  those  who  have  shown  a spirit  of  progression 
and  wisdom. 

Now  the  settling  day  has  come,  and  the  nations  have 
sent  in  a collective  note,  which  virtually  makes  China  a 
vassal  to  the  world.  This  has  been  modified  from  time 
to  time,  and  below  we  give  a dispatch  from  Dr.  Morrison, 
of  Peking,  to  the  London  Times,  under  date  of  Dec.  20th, 
1900.  It  is  as  follows: 

“Equitable  indemnity  is  to  be  paid  to  States,  societies 
and  individuals,  and  also  to  Chinese  who  have  suffered 


144 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


injury  on  account  of  their  employment  by  foreigners. 
China  will  adopt  financial  measures  acceptable  to  the 
Powers  to  guarantee  the  payment  of  indemnity  and  the 
service  loans.” 

The  Times  correspondent  says  the  note  contains  the 
following  stipulations,  in  addition  to  those  already  cabled: 

“Reparation  to  Japan  for  the  murder  of  Sugiyama. 

“Expiatory  monuments  erected  in  all  foreign  ceme- 
teries where  tombs  have  been  desecrated. 

“The  posting  of  a proclamation  throughout  the  empire 
for  two  years,  enumerating  the  punishments  inflicted  upon 
the  guilty  officials,  and  threatening  death  to  any  one  join- 
ing an  anti-foreign  society. 

“An  imperial  edict  to  be  issued,  holding  Viceroys  and 
Governors  responsible  for  anti-foreign  outbreaks  or  vio- 
lations of  treaties. 

“China  to  undertake  negotiations  for  a revision  of  the 
commercial  treaties.” 

Dr.  Morrison  goes  on  to  say  that  in  the  discussion  of 
the  translation  of  the  word  “comply”  in  the  British  pro- 
posal not  to  remove  the  troops  until  the  demands  should 
be  satisfied,  one  Minister  suggested  “accepter.”  The 
German  Minister  wanted  “relimplir.”  Finally  it  was 
agreed  to  use  the  expression  “se  conformer  a.” 

The  original  note,  as  given  below,  was  far  too  severe, 
and  could  not  possibly  have  been  accepted : 

“Article  i.  An  extraordinary  mission,  headed  by  an 
Imperial  Prince,  shall  be  sent  to  Berlin  in  order  to  ex- 
press the  regret  of  the  Emperor  of  China  and  of  the 
Chinese  Government  for  the  murder  of  Baron  Von  Ket- 
teler.  On  the  scene  of  the  murder  a monument  worthy 
of  the  assassinated  Minister  shall  be  erected,  with  an  in- 


THE  FUTURE  OUTLOOK. 


145 


scription  in  Latin,  German  and  Chinese,  expressing  the 
regret  of  the  Emperor  of  China. 

“Article  2.  (a)  The  death  penalty  is  to  be  inflicted  on 
Princes  Tuan  and  Chuang,  upon  Duke  Lan,  and,  further, 
upon  Ying-nien,  Kang-yi,  Chiao-Shu-Chioa,  Tung-fuh- 


C0UJSTT  VON  WALDERSEF. 

Siang,  Yu-Hsien  and  other  ringleaders,  who  will  be 
named  by  the  representatives  of  the  Powers. 

“(b)  In  all  places  where  foreigners  have  been  killed 
or  maltreated  official  examinations  shall  be  suspended  for 
five  years. 

“Article  3.  The  Chinese  Government  shall  erect  a 
monument  in  every  foreign  or  international  cemetery 
which  has  been  desecrated  or  'yyherg  the  graves  have  been 
destroyed. 


146 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


“Article  4.  The  prohibition  of  the  import  of  arms 
into  China  shall  be  maintained  till  further  notice. 

“Article  5.  China  has  to  pay  a just  indemnity  to 
Governments,  corporations  and  individuals,  as  well  as  to 
those  Chinese  who  suffered  in  the  recent  events  in  person 
or  in  property  in  consequence  of  being  in  the  service  of 
foreigners. 

“Article  6.  Every  single  foreign  Power  is  granted 
the  right  of  maintaining  a permanent  legation  guard  and 
of  placing  the  quarter  of  Peking  where  the  legations  are 
situated  in  a state  of  defense.  Chinese  are  not  to  be  al- 
lowed to  live  in  that  quarter  of  Peking. 

“Article  7.  The  Taku  forts  and  those  forts  which 
might  prevent  free  communication  between  Pekin  and  the 
sea  shall  be  razed. 

“Article  8.  The  Powers  acquire  the  right  of  occupy- 
ing certain  points,  on  which  they  will  agree  among  them- 
selves, with  the  object  of  maintaining  free  communica- 
tion between  the  capital  and  the  sea. 

“Article  9.  The  Chinese  Government  is  bound  to  post 
Imperial  decrees  for  two  years  at  all  sub-prefectures.  In 
these  decrees  (a)  to  belong  to  any  anti-foreign  sect  is 
forever  forbidden,  under  penalty  of  death  ; (b)  the  pun- 
ishments inflicted  upon  the  guilty  are  recorded ; (c)  to 
prevent  fresh  disturbances,  it  is  declared  that  the  Vice- 
roys, as  well  as  the  provincial  and  local  authorities,  are 
made  responsible  for  the  maintenance  of  order  in  their 
districts.  In  the  event  of  fresh  anti-foreign  disturbances 
or  other  infringements  of  the  treaties  which  are  not  at 
once  stopped  and  avenged  by  punishment  of  the  guilty, 
these  officials  shall  be  promptly  deposed  and  never  again 
intrusted  with  official  functions  or  invested  with  fresh 
dignities. 


THE  FUTURE  OUTLOOK. 


147 


“Article  10.  The  Chinese  Government  undertakes  to 
enter  upon  negotiations  with  regard  to  such  alterations 
in  the  existing  commercial  and  navigation  treaties  as  the 
foreign  Governments  consider  to  be  desirable,  as  well  as 
regarding  other  matters  which  are  concerned  with  facili- 
tating commercial  relations. 

“Article  11.  The  Chinese  Government  shall  be  bound 
to  reform  the  Chinese  Foreign  Office  and  the  court  cere- 
monial for  the  reception  of  the  foreign  representatives, 
and  to  do  so  in  the  sense  which  shall  be  defined  by  the 
foreign  Powers.” 

The  New  York  Daily  Times  gives  a good  editorial  on 
it,  and  I can  do  no  better  than  repeat  it.  It  says : 

“it  is  of  interest,  first,  to  observe  the  nature  and  ex- 
tent of  the  penalties  imposed  on  China  as  the  direct 
atonement  for  the  violent  and  outrageous  acts  commit- 
ted by  her  people  and  Government  officials.  We  shall 
learn  in  that  way  what  punishment  the  Ministers  thought 
commensurate  with  the  wrongs  they  had  suffered  and 
within  the  power  of  the  nations  to  inflict.  A graver  in- 
terest attaches  to  the  measures  of  security  for  future 
peaceful  intercourse  with  China,  for  these,  if  executed, 
will  determine  the  status  and  control  the  destiny  of  the 
great  empire,  and  profoundly  affect  the  history  of  the 
world. 

“The  punitive  clauses  of  the  collective  note  require  that 
an  Imperial  Prince  shall  conduct  an  extraordinary  mis- 
sion to  Berlin  to  express  the  Emperor’s  regret  at  the 
murder  of  the  German  Minister,  and  that  a monument 
shall  be  erected  on  the  scene  of  the  assassination,  bearing 
an  inscription  in  Latin,  German  and  Chinese,  a further 
and  lasting  expression  of  the  Emperor’s  regret.  In  the 
place  of  this  latter  penalty  and  humiliation,  the  usage 


148 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


between  Powers  upon  a footing  of  equality  would  pre- 
scribe a formal  salute  to  the  flag  of  the  offended  nation. 
But,  as  we  shall  see,  the  note  is  very  far  from  treating 
China  as  an  equal  of  the  Powers.  In  the  original  draft 
of  the  note  it  was  further  provided  that  the  death  penalty 
should  be  inflicted  upon  Princes  Tuan  and  Chuang,  Duke 
Lan,  Ying-Nien,  Kang-Yi,  Chiao-Shu-Chiao,  Tung-fuh- 
Siang,  Yu-Hsien,  ‘and  other  ringleaders,  whose  names 
will  be  given  by  the  representatives  of  the  Powers.’  After 
this  major  demand  the  requirement  that  China  shall  pay 
a just  indemnity  to  Governments,  corporations  and  indi- 
viduals, and  erect  monuments  in  foreign  cemeteries  which 
have  been  desecrated,  may  be  passed  over  as  of  subor- 
dinate interest.  But  it  is  now  understood  that  ‘severe 
punishment’  has  been  substituted  for  the  death  penalty. 

“Guarantees  of  future  security  are  exacted  by  pro- 
visions of  the  note  demanding  that  the  importation  of 
arms  into  China  shall  be  prohibited  until  further  notice; 
that  each  Power  may  maintain  a permanent  legation  guard 
in  Peking  and  place  in  a state  of  defense  the  quarter 
where  the  legations  are  situated;  that  the  Taku  forts 
and  all  others  commanding  the  approach  to  Peking  from 
the  sea  shall  be  razed;  that  the  Powers  shall  have  the 
right  to  occupy  points  agreed  upon  among  themselves 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  open  communication  to  the 
capital ; that  in  all  sub-prefectures  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment shall  for  two  years  post  decrees  proclaiming  the 
penalty  of  death  against  all  who  belong  to  any  anti-for- 
eign societies,  recording  the  punishments  inflicted  for  vio- 
lations of  that  decree,  and  making  Viceroys  and  provin- 
cial and  local  authorities  responsible  for  public  order, 
under  penalty  of  degradation  for  life;  that  the  Chinese 
Government  shall  enter  into  negotiations  for  the  amend- 


EARL  LI THE  STATESMAN, 


THE  FUTURE)  OUTLOOK.  1 5 1 

ment  of  commercial  treaties,  and  that  the  Government 
shall  be  bound  to  reform,  in  a manner  determined  by  the 
Powers,  the  Tsung-Li  Yamen,  or  Foreign  Office,  and 
the  Court  ceremonial  for  the  reception  of  foreign  Min- 
isters. 

“China  ceases  to  be  a sovereign  nation  the  moment  she 
assents  in  principle  or  detail  to  these  demands.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  a Power  that  permits  other  Powers  to  step  in 
and  prescribe  her  internal  laws  is  no  longer  sovereign, 
independent  and  equal  with  the  rest.  She  has  become 
subordinate,  she  is  controlled  from  without.  Under  the 
present  Manchu  dynasty  of  Ta-tsing  (sublime  purity) 
the  laws  of  the  empire  are  contained  in  the  Ta-tsing 
Huei-tien,  or  code  of  the  dynasty,  and  the  administration 
of  public  affairs  is  committed  to  the  Interior  Council, 
under  whose  orders  the  seven  boards  of  Government  act, 
corresponding  to  our  departments  at  Washington.  The 
laws  and  customs  to  be  observed  by  the  people  are  en- 
forced by  the  Li-Pu  board. 

“We  may  suppose  that  the  subjects  of  the  Emperor  are 
reasonably  contented  with  the  liberties  they  enjoy  under 
this  system.  It  is  sufficiently  manifest  that  one  of  their 
privileges  in  the  past  has  been  membership  in  anti-for- 
eign societies.  Now  come  the  Powers  with  their  col- 
lective note  demanding  that  they  shall  be  permitted  to 
amend  the  municipal  law  of  China  in  such  a way  that 
the  exercise  of  former  privileges  shall  be  made  a crime 
punishable  with  death.  China  manifestly  abrogates  her 
sovereignty  in  permitting  the  limits  of  the  privileges  of 
her  subjects  to  be  traced  by  foreigners,  and  it  is  further 
evident  that  neither  she  nor  all  the  Powers  together  would 
have  the  ability  to  enforce  the  decree  save  at  absolutely 


152 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


prohibitory  cost.  In  the  text  of  the  collective  note  as 
made  public  by  Count  Von  Buelow  last  month,  the  de- 
mands were  declared  to  be  irrevocable.  It  is  now  re- 
ported that  this  word  has  been  stricken  out — that  is,  the 
terms  are  open  to  discussion  between  the  Powers  and 
China.  In  the  interest  of  peace  and  the  taxpayers,  upon 
whom  falls  the  ultimate  burden  of  attempting  to  enforce 
the  unen forcible,  it  is  fortunate  that  the  views  of  the 
Ministers  are  made  subject  to  revision. 

“At  the  same  time,  it  is  plain  that  a momentous  event 
in  the  historical  development  of  the  nations  of  the  world 
is  preparing  to  be  accomplished.  The  overthrow  of  the 
Manchu  dynasty  and  the  restoration  of  pure  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment might  save  the  empire  and  make  the  loss  of 
sovereignty  a temporary  misfortune.  This  is  improbable. 
The  Chinese  are  doubtless  about  to  lose  the  right  of  the 
free  hand  in  regulating  their  internal  and  external  af- 
fairs. Subjugation  will  only  hasten  decay,  and  in  the  case 
of  a vast  and  undeveloped  empire  in  this  age  of  active 
public  conquest  and  private  exploitation,  when  the  drones 
and  the  incapables  are  being  driven  out  of  their  fallow 
estates  by  the  busy  and  eager  workers,  decay  will  be  ar- 
rested not  far  in  the  future  by  dismemberment,  partition, 
and  the  industrial  dominance  of  the  men  of  the  living 
nations.” 

Probably  never  before  has  an  international  question  of 
such  moment  been  before  the  whole  world,  and  it  will 
need  cool  heads  to  keep  this  caldron  from  boiling  over,  as 
jealousy  and  greed  is  lurking  around.  China  herself 
needs  a strong  man,  who  will  command  respect  from  the 
law-abiding  people.  By  showing  great  tact  the  country 
could  be  brought  out  of  this  chaos  and  anarchy. 


THE  FUTURE  OUTLOOK. 


153 


What  if  China  is  divided?  Well,  if  this  is  brought 
about,  she  must  go  ahead.  The  conservative  China  has 
gone,  and  gone  forever.  If  the  Emperor  is  reinstated  or 
not,  there  will  be  a reconstructed  China.  All  her  material 
conditions  will  be  changed  for  the  better.  She  will  rise 
in  the  scale  of  nationhood ; her  foreign  relations,  her 
financial  system,  her  judicial  administration  will  be  lifted 
immensely  above  the  level  where  they  are  now.  New  soil 
is  always  wonderfully  rich.  Old  people,  once  emanci- 


ADM1RAI.  SEYMOUR. 

pated  from  old  ideas,  will  grow  new  ideas  with  an  ex- 
uberance unwonted.  The  Japanese  are  an  illustration  of 
this.  The  Chinese,  once  started  in  the  same  way,  will 
move  at  a slower  gait,  but  will  surpass  them  in  the  scale 
of  magnitude. 


154  CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  her  natural  resources  have 
hardly  been  touched.  Her  immense  coal  fields  and  min- 
erals of  every  kind  await  developing.  Her  forests  will 
need  the  rotary  saw  instead  of  the  slow  hand  saw ; for  as 
yet  she  has  no  other.  Her  harvests  will  demand  the 
Western  harvester  and  threshing  machine,  instead  of  the 
tedious  hand  work  of  to-day.  And  so  in  every  industry 
there  will  be  demands  for  all  the  latest  and  best  ma- 
chinery. Railways  also  will  be  needed  to  hasten  travel 
and  carry  the  produce  to  the  markets.  The  great  steam- 
ship lines  are  waking  up  to  see  the  possibility  of  China’s 
coming  greatness,  and  have  already  in  course  of  construc- 
tion the  largest  ships  in  the  world  to  carry  the  freight 
which  is  sure  to  come  to  and  from  China. 

Not  only  will  there  be  a new  material  China,  but  there 
will  also  be  a regenerated  China.  A purely  materialistic 
China,  well  equipped  ironclads  and  Mauser  rifles,  and  no 
ascendancy  of  moral  force,  would  be  a curse  to  herself 
and  a menace  to  mankind.  God  has  something  far  better 
in  store  for  humanity.  By  a regenerate  China  is  not 
meant  that  all  China  will  be  converted ; far  from  it  as  yet ; 
but  it  is  meant  that  Christianity  will  soon  move  with  gi- 
gantic strides. 

Drawbacks  and  checks  there  will  be,  but,  allowing  for 
them  all,  after  taking  into  account  the  nature  of  the 
Chinese  people,  once  emancipated  from  their  slavish  al- 
legiance to  their  literary  class,  considering  that  they  have 
no  Indian  caste  to  keep  them  back,  counting  as  we  do  on 
the  mighty  power  of  God  to  be  provident  in  the  last  days, 
now  just  ahead  of  us,  we  are  safe  in  assuming  that  there 
will  be  such  ingatherings  as  the  world  has  never  seen. 
We  had  a little  forerunner  of  this  two  years  ago,  when 


SIR  CLAUD  MACDONALD,  BRITISH 


MINISTER  TO  PEKING 


*56 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


the  famous  reform  edicts  of  the  Emperor  came  out.  Im- 
mediately missionary  work  grew  immensely  interesting, 
and  many  who  had  been  secretly  serving  Christ  came  out 
and  openly  accepted  Him.  The  oppression  of  the  gentry 
and  officials  became  less  and  less,  until  the  Emperor  was 
dethroned,  and  then  the  cloud  settled  down  once  more. 
The  foreigner’s  power  has  been  felt,  and  will  in  the  fu- 
ture be  respected.  This,  in  turn,  will  have  the  effect  of 
causing  the  Chinese  to  respect  the  foreigner  and  his 
teaching,  and  we  feel  sure  missionaries  will  not  need  to 
work  so  hard  to  get  people  into  the  Church  as  to  keep 
them  out ; for  the  Chinaman,  like  the  Westerner,  desires 
to  be  connected  with  those  who  are  in  high  favor. 
Teachers  in  English  will  be  in  demand  everywhere,  as 
the  English  language  is  the  preferred  one  by  the  Chinese. 

The  editor  of  the  Educational  Department  in  the  Chi- 
nese Recorder  wisely  calls  the  attention  of  the  educa- 
tionists to  the  necessity  of  improving  the  present  time  to 
prepare  for  what  must  inevitably  follow  when  peace  has 
been  declared.  “There  is  little  question  but  that  we  shall 
see  such  a demand  for  English  and  education  in  modern 
studies  and  on  modern  lines  as  will  quite  overwhelm  the 
missionary  body.  We  were  almost  wholly  unprepared, 
when  the  Emperor’s  reform  decrees  were  issued,  for  the 
results  which  followed.  And  now  that  reform,  in  earnest, 
will  doubtless  be  the  cry  when  matters  have  again  settled 
down,  what  a pressure  will  be  brought  upon  the  mission- 
ary body,  not  alone  for  direct  evangelistic  work,  but  es- 
pecially for  help  in  founding  schools  and  conducting  edu- 
cational institutions.  Well  may  every  missionary  ask 
himself,  What  can  I do  in  the  present  crisis  to  prepare 
for  the  great  reactionary  wave  of  progress  and  reform 
which  is  sure  to  set  in?” 


THE  FUTURE  OUTLOOK. 


157 


The  missionaries  who  have  retired  for  a time  will  go 
back  refreshed  in  body  and  spirit,  and,  therefore,  prepared 
for  the  great  work  which  will  be  crowded  upon  them. 
New  churches  and  homes  will  have  to  be  built  to  take  the 
place  of  those  destroyed,  and  the  friends,  therefore,  at 
home  will  have  to  stand  behind  their  respective  boards, 
both  in  prayer  and  financial  aid,  to  help  tide  over  this 
time  of  severe  strain.  The  promise  of  Isaiah  that  they 
shall  come  from  the  land  of  Sinim  (China)  will  surely 
come  true,  for  God’s  word  cannot  fail.  Weeping  may 
endure  for  a night,  but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning.  The 
light  is  breaking  over  China  to-day.  God’s  servants 
should  not  be  slow  in  claiming  all  the  land.  The  doors 
of  iron  and  brass  are  now  creaking  on  their  rusty  hinges, 
and  the  missionary  must  not  be  discouraged,  but  en- 
ter in. 

Thus  we  may  conclude  that  in  the  events  in  China  our 
Father  is  making  “All  things  work  together  for  good  to 
them  that  love  God.”  We  may  have  to  take  this  by  faith 
for  a time  for  as  far  as  the  outward  vision  now  is  all 
looks  dark.  The  final  joint  note  has  been  delivered  and 
has  gone  to  the  peace  envoys,  Ching  and  Li.  The  inser- 
tion of  the  word  “irrevocable”  makes  the  note,  not  a 
basis  of  discussion,  but  an  ultimatum.  The  nations  are 
making  the  attempt  to  coerce  China  into  the  acceptance 
of  the  terms  which  she  should  not  be  asked  to  accept. 
An  easier  way  could  have  been  found  and  the  ringleaders 
amply  punished  if  the  nations  had  so  desired ; but  now  it 
looks  as  though  they  have  added  fuel  to  the  fire. 

Let  every  Christian  worker  pray  much  that  this  black 
cloud  hanging  over  China  may  soon  lift  and  that  peace 


!58 


CHINA  AND  THE  BOXERS. 


and  prosperity  in  a greater,  fuller  form  may  return  to 
the  land  that  we  teachers,  traders  and  missionaries  have 
learned  to  love. 


a te 

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